London-born Semenyo shines on South Coast as his goal sets up win over champions Manchester City
By Jack Burford at the Vitality Stadium
Bournemouth 2 Man City 1
Delighted Cherries boss Andoni Iraola’s was full of praise for his striker Antoine Semenyo, who scored the opening goal as Bournemouth beat Manchester City 2-1.
Of Chelsea-born Semenyo, who was rejected as a kid at Crystal Palace, Iraola said: "He has been playing very well all season, we demand a lot from him.
"Because he scored today he probably got more recognition, but we have to keep going because if we play our best we can give a game to any opposition.
In an interview with BBC Sport - Semenyo spoke about the struggles of youth football and being rejected from Crystal Palace as a child. He even said: "I was ready to quit football for good."
However, his dad continued to believe in him and convinced him to keep playing.
Against City, he put on an emphatic display, constantly using his pace and power to bully City’s back line. to help Bournemouth defeat the Premier League champions at the Vitality stadium.
The forward opened the scoring in the ninth minute, calmly holding off Josko Gvardiol to turn and slot the ball past Ederson.
Iraola’s side came out of the blocks firing as they looked to press from the front and take advantage of Manchester City’s sloppiness in possession.
Ederson was forced to make a double save in the second minute as Semenyo broke through, but the City keeper quickly got down. The ball kindly rebounded to Justin Kluivert but his effort was also denied.
Bournemouth continued to control the first-half as City struggled to gain any fluency in their play.
In the 62nd minute, Bournemouth’s Brazilian No.9 Evanlison made it 2-0 as Semenyo and Milos Kerkez had some fantastic interplay on the halfway line which allowed the Hungarian fullback space to whip a ball into Evanlison who struck home to double Bournemouth’s lead.
It looked as if Bournemouth were strolling to their first victory against Manchester City. However, Joško Gvardiol's bullet header gave the away side hope with 10 minutes of normal time remaining.
Manchester City started to gain belief that they could turn the match around, with a 93rd minute Erling Haaland header cleared off the line and a Phil Foden long range effort dragged just wide.
However,it was Iraloa's side who took home the three points in what will be a day to remember for Bournemouth fans.
Iraola said after beating City: "It feels great, it is very difficult to beat City. You have to enjoy it today but tomorrow we will start again. To beat them deservedly is even more difficult, and even if we suffered until the end, I think we deserved this one."
When Iraola was asked about what Bournemouth can achieve this season he said: "We have the reference of last season where we finished 12th but it is still too early.
"But we have to try and compete every game and I want to continue like this but it is difficult to beat anyone in the Premier League."
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