Monday 26 January 2015 12:47, UK
Aitor Karanka was delighted with his Middlesbrough team after their shock 2-0 FA Cup win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Second-half goals from Patrick Bamford and Kike were enough to beat the Premier League champions as Boro produced an accomplished display to progress to the fifth round.
Karanka admitted it was his best result as Middlesbrough boss, eclipsing their penalty shoot-out defeat to Liverpool in the Capital One Cup in September.
"Yes, of course," said Karanka when asked if this ranked as his best victory as manager. “I’ve been manager for 14 months and we were very close against Liverpool but the penalties finished our dreams. Today we beat one of the best squads in the world.
“It was a game that for me was the same as we are playing in the Championship. We are creating a lot of chances but not scoring the goals.
“The game reminded me of those Championship games but we had a Champions League team to play against so I knew it was going to be very difficult.”
City were shut out at home for the second successive game thanks to the efforts of Tomas Mejias in the Boro goal as the Spaniard made a series of fine saves to keep out the home team.
Karanka was particularly happy with the efforts of his compatriot given that Mejias lost his first-team spot to veteran Greek goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos earlier in the season.
“I am very pleased with him because at the beginning of the season he was not bad but made a number of small mistakes and some had doubts about him,” added Karanka.
“But for me it’s brilliant that Tomas played today because he deserves the best. He’s been without play and he’s always working well. Now we have another keeper if something happens.”
With many of the Premier League’s big guns having exited the FA Cup, there could be an opportunity for a lower-league side to go far in the competition but Karanka is not getting carried away.
“I know that it’s very important for our crowd and everybody but my thoughts are for Saturday because our first objective is to win promotion and the Championship is very tough.
“They deserve to enjoy today and tomorrow but on the training ground on Tuesday our only thoughts will be about (Saturday’s opponents) Brentford.”
