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Seven minutes before the interval, fireworks were launched in the Whaddon Road area of Cheltenham
Manchester City’s FA Cup fourth round clash with Cheltenham on Saturday was put on hold due to fireworks.
About five minutes before half-time, fireworks were launched next to Jonny-Rocks Stadium in the Whaddon Road area of Cheltenham.
Fireworks rained down on the pitch prompting referee Stuart Attwell to suspend the game for the safety of the players.
While play was halted, players from both teams stayed to the side of the pitch as the fireworks continued to go off.
It took a good six minutes before the game resumed.
Cheltenham were not impressed with their illustrious opponents, the score being 0-0 when the game was temporarily suspended.
Town boss Pep Guardiola has made a series of changes alongside him for the trip to Cheltenham.
Only Phil Foden retained his place in the starting XI for the squad that beat Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Wednesday.
But given the depth of talent the Catalan coach has, Guardiola could field players of the caliber of Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres, Riyad Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy, Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho.
Guardiola said ahead of the game that he would not lightly take a 72-place team behind them in the football pyramid.
“I know the Premier League is the most important and the Champions League is the second most important, but four consecutive finals in the Carabao Cup are because every game is important,” Guardioa said on the club’s official website.
“So no chance [of prioritising]. Even if we get to the game without players, we will play the second team, but we do not give up any competition.
“When you lose, it’s because the opponent is better or we did a bad performance, but not because I don’t like this competition.
“Cheltenham deserves my respect.
“I’m more curious than other games because I don’t know them. I had to pay more attention to who they are as a team.
“Now I’m going to play the team against Cheltenham and today we watched them, the whole team, we are training exactly what we want to do to try to beat them.”
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