When Bristol City hero and Sheff Wed defender made bizarre request to Man City’s Pep Guardiola

Bristol City will roll out the red carpet tomorrow as Premier League giants Manchester City travel to Ashton Gate for a glamour Cup tie for the hosts. It’s one of the biggest games in years in the West Country and City have a reason to be confident given they’re on a 12-game unbeaten run.

The Robins have been rewarded with a match against the reigning Premier League champions for beating Swansea City and West Brom in the earlier rounds of the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola’s men have overcome their top six rivals Chelsea and Arsenal to reach this stage.

It’s been five years since the Citizens last played at the home of Bristol City and it was an entertaining encounter in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. In the first leg, Bobby Reid put Lee Johnson’s side in front from the spot before half-time at the Etihad, but Kevin de Bruyne equalised early in the second half and then Sergio Aguero netted a stoppage-time winner.

In the reverse fixture, Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero made it 4-1 on aggregate but Marlon Pack pulled one back to reduce the deficit. Aden Flint pulled it back to one with a goal in the fourth minute of added-on time but Belgian superstar de Bruyne denied them at least a second-leg draw with a cruel 96th-minute winner.

Any player would be happy about scoring against one of the best teams and managers in the world, and that gave Aden Flint the confidence to make a cheeky request to Guardiola at the full-time whistle. Any opposition player in the world would like time with the Spaniard, who has been successful in management wherever he has gone.

The Sky Sports cameras caught Flint in discussion with Guardiola and you could see that the centre-back made the Barcelona legend smile as the two exchanged post-match pleasantries. It was a brief conversation, and there was much speculation as to what was said but thankfully the double-winning promotion hero revealed what he said.

“Asked pep to swap his stone island jacket for my shirt.. he declined,” tweeted Flint following the conclusion of the Carabao Cup semi-final. At the time, it went viral with the footballing public loving Flint’s cheeky request to the four-time Premier League winner.

Nowadays, Guardiola tends to wear the clothes provided to him by the clubs sponsorship deals, though he was seen donning a big winter coat in their win over AFC Bournemouth. Andi Weimann meanwhile has admitted that he’d like to get Jack Grealish’s shirt after the full-time whistle tomorrow.