City created their own luck - Mourinho

Wednesday, December 20th 2017

José Mourinho credited City for ‘creating their own luck’ after the Robins pulled off a sensational Carabao Cup quarter-final win at an electrifying Ashton Gate on Wednesday night.

Korey Smith’s injury-time winner sent City fans into raptures and United out of the competition they had triumphed in last season, after Joe Bryan’s magnificent 51st minute strike had raised the roof in BS3.

But Mourinho, whose side had levelled proceedings just seven minutes after Bryan’s opener, insisted Lee Johnson’s side had worked hard for an unforgettable victory.

“Normally, when a Premier League team loses against a team from a lower division, it is because the performance was not good,” said the United boss.

“I’d say it was not very good, but not so a bad performance that I can come here and be critical of my players."

Lee Johnson shakes hands with José Mourinho ahead of kick off (JMP UK).

“I prefer to give credit to Bristol City. I studied the team, I made my players aware of their qualities.

“I think they were lucky; before the 1-0 we had two balls hit the post. After the 1-1, we had all the dominance of the game and had the best chances, and then they scored the goal in a moment when we have no chance to fight back.

“They were lucky, but they fought really hard and they’re a good team. Instead of being critical of my players, I prefer to praise Bristol City.

“Of course, we didn’t want extra time, we wanted to win it in the 90 minutes. They had the luck at the end, but they fought to be lucky. Sometimes, you think that luck comes from nowhere, but normally luck comes from effort.”