CITY manager Phil Parkinson is hoping for a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United after his side dumped Chelsea out of the FA Cup in a memorable upset on Saturday.
The Bantams – who picked up £90,000 prize money to go with their share of the gate receipts – came from 2-0 down to stun the Premier League leaders 4-2, with a Bradford side which cost £7,500 in transfer fees beating Jose Mourinho’s £200million team of superstars.
It was just the latest in a series of Bantams cup upsets in recent years, and the manager now fancies another big name in tomorrow's fifth-round draw.
"If I had my choice, I'd like to play Manchester United," he said.
"The experience we had yesterday going to Old Trafford was just terrific. If Manchester United can manage to beat Cambridge it would be great to go to Old Trafford.
"But whoever we get, it's great to be in the fifth round. We're enjoying being in the limelight."
Bradford's win headlined a day of stunning upsets, with Manchester City, Tottenham and Southampton all also out a day after League Two Cambridge held United to a 0-0 draw on Friday night.
Parkinson is an expert in cup upsets after his side beat both Arsenal and Aston Villa to reach the Capital One Cup final in 2013, and said the Chelsea win was his best yet, even if Mourinho made several changes to his side.
"The night we beat Arsenal they played a full-strength team but it was a night set up for a cup shock with a pitch starting to get a little bit frosty," he said. "It was a freezing cold night in Bradford with all the elements for a cup shock.
"Going down there to Stamford Bridge, with a fantastic playing surface and 40,000 people behind them, to beat the league leaders and one of the best teams in Europe has to top the Arsenal victory."
Chelsea took a 2-0 lead through Gary Cahill and Ramires, but Jon Stead pulled a goal back before half-time before goals from Filipe Morais, Andy Halliday and Mark Yeates completed the upset.
"It's really just about giving the lads the belief to go out there and put on their best performance," Parkinson added.
"We respected Chelsea but we certainly didn't fear them. We weren't going to back off them and give them the ball in our half. When they came into the middle third we pressed them aggressively and that was the key.
"We didn't give them any time on the ball and they're not used to that at that level. When we had the ball ourselves we played with real calmness and I'm really pleased because it's so important. These days don't come along very often and when they do it's great we made the most of it and the lads really did themselves credit."
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