Manchester: Lee Johnson promised a febrile atmosphere at Ashton Gate when Bristol City play Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final second leg, following Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat.

The Championship side took the lead with a 44th-minute Bobby Reid penalty, before Kevin De Bruyne equalised 10 minutes into the second half.

Despite Sergio Aguero’s added-time winner, Bristol City remain alive in the tie and their manager is intent they will again be a difficult proposition in a fortnight’s time.

“I think it will be interesting,” Johnson said. “City have big games coming up and the atmosphere at Ashton Gate will be phenomenal. You heard how loud they [the travelling fans] were tonight. They enjoyed themselves and the players did them proud.”

Johnson pointed to Bristol City’s away goal, which will come into play should they defeat Manchester City 1-0 at the end of extra time in the return. “It’s half-time and we’ve got the away goal, we are still in the tie,” he said.

“The buzz continues, the build-up will be exciting. Pep Guardiola said to me we played better than most of the Premier League teams that come to Manchester City. We will take an awful lot from it and learn a lot. It is not over.”

Guardiola was content with his team’s display, saying of his players: “They give everything. The performance was good. Every time we try to make the best performance possible but the performance was good, really good. Manchester City fans around the world must be so proud. It will be tough in Bristol.”

City, who have dished out a string of maulings in a stellar league campaign, found the Championship side a tough nut to crack and had to wait until the 92nd minute to grab the winner when Argentine substitute Aguero darted in to head home.

The visitors had opened the scoring with a penalty just before halftime after central defender John Stones had fouled Reid, who dispatched the spot kick with aplomb.

De Bruyne’s equaliser soon after the break turned the tide and City then laid siege to their opponents’ defence in the closing stages before Aguero’s goal gave them a vital advantage ahead of the return leg in two weeks’ time.

“My players were fantastic because in football you can win, you can lose, but we try until the end. We win many games in the last minutes because we don’t give up,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd 2018