Jack Grealish dedicated his goal to his late brother after scoring in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Leicester on Wednesday.
The England international hit his first Premier League goal for 16 months, on his first start in the competition since last December, as City moved back into fourth with a comfortable success at the Etihad Stadium.
It came on the 25th anniversary of the death of his younger brother Keelan, who died at the age of just nine months.
Grealish said on the club’s official website: “This day is always hard in the family, but I was happy to score.
“My mum and dad were here. This day is always difficult in the family. So to score and to win was brilliant.”
Grealish has struggled for regular action this season due to the form of Jeremy Doku and Savinho.
All three of those players started against the Foxes and combined to set up Grealish’s opener after just two minutes.
City manager Pep Guardiola said: “Jack is an incredible human being in terms of gestures and he’s incredibly generous.
“I didn’t know that. I can’t imagine how tough (it was) but to be with his mum and dad, his sister and all the family, it’s good.
“He scored a goal and made a good game. I’m happy for him. I know it’s not easy when you don’t play quite regularly.”
Omar Marmoush added the second after 29 minutes and City then eased through the remainder of the game to push an ineffective Leicester, who remain 12 points off safety, closer to the drop.
Guardiola said: “It wasn’t easy with 10 players behind the ball in the box and we missed the third goal to be more relaxed.
“But we didn’t concede anything until near the end and I’m pleased for a good performance.”
Guardiola also offered more clarification on the length of Erling Haaland’s absence after the Norwegian suffered an ankle injury in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth.
The striker has since received specialist treatment from Dr Ramon Cugat in Barcelona.
He said: “He saw him and we expect five to six weeks.”
Leicester boss Ruud Van Nistelrooy conceded his side’s situation is bleak, but is not giving up yet.
The Dutchman said: “Of course we live in reality. We know what the situation is in the table, points wise – 12 points with eight games to play.
✅ Ipswich win for the first time in 10 matches❌ Leicester beaten away at Man City???? Southampton concede late to draw
It was a differing set of results for the Premier League bottom three… pic.twitter.com/tobAcN9A8X
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 2, 2025
“But mathematically, as I said before, it’s not over and we have the responsibility to keep going.”
Leicester have now lost seven in succession without scoring and Van Nistelrooy admitted they were never in their latest contest.
He said: “Of course at City away you want to have a good start, but before the half-hour we were 2-0 down it was going to be a long night.”
