'We've said' - The Man City dressing room reset sparking hopes of Real Madrid boost

Manchester City players treated Saturday's FA Cup clash with Leyton Orient as the opening game of a new season after admitting the first half of the 2024/25 campaign has fallen well below their own high standards.

City are fifth in the Premier League and scraped through to the Champions League knockout play-offs With the Premier League title out of reach and their European hopes hinging on a difficult play-off with Real Madrid, plenty was riding on the FA Cup as the Blues headed to East London to face their League One opponents.

And it was the hosts who looked likely to cause an upset when Jamie Donley's long-range chip beat Stefan Ortega. But City fought back through Abdukodir Khusanov and Kevin De Bruyne to limp through.

Khusanov's goal came after Rico Lewis' shot deflected in off the January signing - with Lewis reflecting post-match that City's players have agreed to start afresh this week as they tackle a difficult run of season-defining games against Madrid, Newcastle, Liverpool, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.

"It [the FA Cup] is massive. The season hasn't panned out how we wanted it to," Lewis told BBC Sport. "We've said the transfer window is closed, it's a new start to the season. Every game now, as long as we win, it could be a great season for us.

"Even though the first half hasn't gone to plan. We've got the FA Cup, the Champions League, so many games to play to enjoy and also to become more of a team."

Lewis admitted to fearing the worst when City fell behind to Donley's wonderful effort but praised his team-mates for keeping calm and trusting their ability on the ball to wear down their third tier hosts.

He continued: "I was thinking 'of course, a shot from the halfway line, after we created so many