‘He Can Literally Do Anything’ – Antoine Semenyo Reveals How Rayan Cherki Has Impressed Him Since Joining Man City

Antoine Semenyo reveals how Rayan Cherki has impressed him since joining Man City after dazzling display in statement win over Liverpool

There are certain afternoons at the Etihad when Manchester City do more than just win a football match.

They make a statement.

They remind everyone that no matter how chaotic a season may feel at times, no matter how many questions get asked about transitions, injuries, tactical tweaks or whether Pep Guardiola’s machine is finally slowing down, they still possess the kind of quality that can flatten elite opposition in the space of 90 minutes.

This was one of those afternoons.

Liverpool arrived knowing the stakes, knowing the pressure, and knowing full well that City in knockout mode are a different beast altogether. They left with a 4-0 defeat, a bruised ego, and a brutal reminder that when Guardiola’s side click in the final third, there are very few teams in Europe capable of living with them.

Erling Haaland, predictably, will take the loudest headlines after a ruthless hat-trick that once again underlined why he remains the most devastating centre-forward in the game. But inside the Manchester City dressing room, there was another name being spoken about with just as much excitement after the final whistle.

Rayan Cherki.

And if Antoine Semenyo is to be believed, City fans may only just be scratching the surface of what the Frenchman can become in sky blue.

After the final whistle, the winger did not hold back in his assessment of his new teammate. In fact, he went straight for the kind of praise that tells you just how quickly a player has made an impression at one of the most demanding clubs in world football.

“He’s one of the world’s best,” Semenyo said.

Then came the line that instantly stood out.

“He can literally do anything with the ball.”

It is the sort of quote that might sound exaggerated if it came from outside the dressing room. But when it comes from a teammate who sees the player every day in training, who has to read his movements in real time, and who just benefited directly from his vision in a huge cup tie, it lands differently.

It feels earned.

‘He can literally do anything’ – Antoine Semenyo reveals how Rayan Cherki has impressed him since joining Man City and why the hype is growing

Rayan Cherki has never really been short on hype.

Even back in his Lyon days, he carried that aura of a player who could make a stadium gasp with one touch and frustrate a manager with the next. He was always the kind of footballer people described with words like “maverick,” “street footballer,” “unpredictable,” or, if they were feeling generous, “special.”

The talent has never been the debate.

The debate was always about consistency, maturity, and whether he could translate all that outrageous technical flair into a structured elite environment where every pass, every press, and every positional detail matters.

That is what makes his early impact at Manchester City so intriguing.

Because City is not the kind of club where flair alone keeps you on the pitch.

Pep Guardiola loves talent, of course he does, but he loves discipline too. He loves patterns. He loves control. He loves players who understand where the game is going two seconds before everyone else. If you want to survive there, especially as an attacking player, you need more than tricks. You need timing. You need sacrifice. You need to fit inside the machine without losing what makes you dangerous.

So far, Cherki looks like he is finding that balance.

And Semenyo’s reaction says a lot about how quickly he has adapted.

The Ghana international was glowing in his post-match comments, but what made the praise feel authentic was the detail. He did not just call Cherki a top player in generic terms. He explained how the Frenchman actually changes the game for the players around him.

“He can literally do anything with the ball, so he makes my life easy. I know that he’s going to drop and he’s going to try and find me in behind or play to my feet, so it just makes it easier.”

That is not just admiration.

That is trust.

And for an attacker, trust in a creative teammate is everything.

A masterclass at the Etihad as Manchester City dismantle Liverpool in the FA Cup

The bigger picture here is that Cherki’s influence did not arrive in some low-pressure league match against modest opposition.

It came against Liverpool.

In a major cup tie.

With Wembley on the line.

That matters.

Manchester City’s 4-0 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final was not just another good result. It was one of those performances that sends a message across the country. A reminder that whatever people want to say about momentum, title races, fixture congestion or squad fatigue, City still know how to deliver when the pressure sharpens.

From the first whistle, Guardiola’s side looked like the more aggressive, more fluid, more dangerous team. They moved the ball with authority, pressed with purpose, and attacked the spaces around Liverpool’s shape with a confidence that felt almost cruel at times.

Haaland was clinical, as he so often is.

But the creativity around him was what made the difference.

Semenyo stretched the game brilliantly.

Cherki found pockets that should not have existed.

And when the pair combined, Liverpool looked uncomfortable.

One of the defining moments came when Cherki produced a beautifully disguised pass that opened the play in an instant, allowing Semenyo to deliver for Haaland’s second goal. It was the sort of action that separates technically gifted players from truly elite creators — not just the execution, but the deception. The ability to make a defender lean the wrong way for half a second and turn that half-second into a goal.

That is Cherki’s game.

And on a big stage, it looked devastating.

Antoine Semenyo was stunned by Rayan Cherki from day one in training

Sometimes you can tell when a player has “it” before the supporters ever see him in a competitive match.

That first training session can reveal a lot.

The speed of thought.

The confidence in tight spaces.

The ease with which a player does difficult things.

Semenyo made it clear that his first proper look at Cherki in a Manchester City session was one of those moments.

And honestly, his reaction sounded like a footballer’s version of being genuinely shocked.

“I remember my first day in training,” he said. “Just some of the skills he was pulling up, I thought, ‘What kind of player is he?’ He’s a top player. Creative with the ball and we love it.”

That line — what kind of player is he? — says more than people might realise.

Elite professionals do not get wowed easily.

These are players who train every day with internationals, Champions League winners, and world-class athletes. For one of them to be genuinely taken aback by another player’s technical level, it usually means something out of the ordinary is happening.

And with Cherki, that tracks.

He is the kind of footballer who can make a simple drill look weirdly artistic. A shoulder drop becomes theatre. A five-yard pass becomes a disguised reverse. A tight-space turn suddenly feels like a street football clip from ten years ago.

The challenge has always been turning that into repeatable elite output.

If City are helping him do that, the ceiling gets scary.

Rayan Cherki’s maverick reputation still follows him — and Pep Guardiola will be watching closely

Of course, with Cherki, the brilliance almost always comes with a little bit of chaos.

That is part of the package.

Even in the final stages of City’s dominant win over Liverpool, he could not resist adding a few extra flicks and tricks to the occasion. For fans, it is entertainment. For teammates, it can be energising. For opponents, it can feel like humiliation.

For Pep Guardiola?

Well, that depends on the moment.

Guardiola has always had a complicated relationship with improvisational showmanship. He loves creativity when it serves the structure. He gets less enthusiastic when it drifts into unnecessary risk or perceived disrespect. Cherki, by nature, likes to play on that edge. He is a footballer who seems to believe the game should have a little theatre in it.

That is part of what makes him watchable.

It is also what makes him dangerous.

And yes, sometimes, what makes him slightly exhausting for a manager.

The small postscript involving the shirt swap only added to the sense that Cherki remains gloriously unconventional. The Frenchman reportedly swapped shirts with Hugo Ekitike before the final whistle and was even seen wearing the rival jersey while the game was still technically alive, prompting the City bench to quickly tell him to take it off.

Was it a major scandal? Of course not.

Was it a very Cherki thing to do? Absolutely.

That little moment, harmless as it was, summed him up rather well. Brilliant, expressive, occasionally chaotic, and always liable to do something that makes you laugh, gasp, or shake your head.

Probably all three.

Why Cherki and Semenyo could become a serious weapon for Manchester City

The most exciting part for City supporters may be this: the chemistry between Semenyo and Cherki already looks real.

That matters more than highlight clips.

In top-level football, partnerships form quickly when players understand each other’s instincts. You can see it in the timing of runs, in the body shape before a pass, in the confidence to attack space because you know the ball might arrive. Semenyo’s comments suggest that with Cherki, he already feels that comfort.

He knows when the Frenchman will drop deep.

He knows when he will look for the through ball.

He knows when to spin in behind and when to show to feet.

That sort of understanding can turn a good front line into a nasty one.

And with Haaland occupying centre-backs the way he does, the spaces around him become incredibly valuable. If Cherki can consistently access those half-spaces and Semenyo can keep stretching the line, City suddenly have another dangerous layer to their attack.

Not just control.

Not just possession.

But unpredictability.

That is what made peak Guardiola teams so terrifying — they did not only dominate structure, they also had moments of chaos in the final third. David Silva had it. Kevin De Bruyne has always had it in a different way. Riyad Mahrez had it. Bernardo Silva can produce it. If Cherki becomes the next version of that creative disruptor, City become even harder to read.

And that should worry everyone else.

Chasing the domestic treble as Manchester City hit top gear at the right time

Big clubs are judged in spring.

That is when the narratives stop being theoretical and become real.

Squads are either peaking or fading. Rotations either look clever or desperate. Managers either seem in control or under pressure. For Manchester City, this stretch of the season always carries a certain familiar intensity because the expectation is never just to compete — it is to collect.

That is why this win over Liverpool felt important beyond the FA Cup itself.

It looked like a team timing its run.

The domestic treble remains in play, and while nobody inside the club will say it too loudly, performances like this naturally feed that belief. The sharpness was there. The energy was there. The edge was there. Most importantly, the hunger was obvious.

Semenyo made that clear when he spoke about the mentality inside the dressing room.

“It’s the most important part of the season now, so we just want to win as many games as we can. Every game’s the final now, so we just have to keep pushing and see what happens.”

That is classic late-season football language, but in City’s case it rings true.

They know what this phase demands.

And they know that once momentum starts building, they can become suffocating.

Final word

Manchester City’s 4-0 demolition of Liverpool was the kind of result that tends to echo.

Yes, Erling Haaland will grab the biggest share of the spotlight after another ruthless hat-trick.

Yes, the FA Cup semi-final place matters.

Yes, the domestic treble talk will only grow louder.

But one of the most interesting takeaways from the afternoon was the reaction of Antoine Semenyo to a teammate who seems to have arrived in Manchester with very little interest in easing his way in quietly.

‘He can literally do anything’ – Antoine Semenyo reveals how Rayan Cherki has impressed him since joining Man City, and if the winger’s words are even half as accurate as they sounded, then City may have added another genuine game-breaker to Guardiola’s arsenal.

Cherki looks fearless.

He looks creative.

He looks slightly chaotic in the best possible way.

And, perhaps most importantly, he already looks like a player his teammates trust.

That is a huge sign.

There will still be moments when Guardiola wants to smooth out the rough edges. There will still be times when the flicks, tricks, or spontaneous flair drift too far into the red zone. That is part of coaching a player like Cherki.

But if City can keep the magic while sharpening the decision-making, they may have something very special on their hands.

For now, Semenyo has said what plenty of City fans were probably already thinking.

Rayan Cherki is not just settling in.

He is starting to light the place up.