De Ligt moved toward the back post, Yoro and Šeško crowded the central zone, while Rodri, Dias and Gvardiol tried to organize City's defensive line. The Etihad was still loud, but there was a nervousness beneath it now, the kind of sudden tightening that came when a team had scored and immediately found itself defending a set piece.
And Bruno, after raising both hands in the air, whipped the corner toward the far post.
De Ligt attacked it powerfully.
Rodri jumped with him.
Both men rose together, shoulders colliding in the air, but Rodri managed to get the faintest touch before the United defender could make clean contact. The ball flicked upward and away from the immediate danger, dropping toward the edge of the box where Bryan Mbeumo was already moving onto it, his body shaping for the first-time volley.
"Rodri gets something on it... Mbeumo waiting!" Drury called.
Mbeumo never reached it cleanly.
Just as he set himself to smash the ball, Lukas stepped across him.
