"Electric. The build-up was electric. The game was electric. The aftermath was electric as well."

Today marks seven years since Bristol City produced one of their greatest results in recent memory as Lee Johnson's Robins booked their place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals with a historic win over Manchester United at Ashton Gate.

While that night alone will be remembered fondly by supporters on the red side of Bristol; it was the highlight of a cup run that saw the Robins beat four Premier League sides and go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. However, Johnson believed something special was looming after the Reds' first-round win over Plymouth Argyle.

"We beat Plymouth and it was men against boys really," the former City boss told Bristol Live. "That was with a backup 11 that hadn't actually started the first two or three games of the season so that's a really good sign when you're beating a good League One side 5-0, that was really outstanding.

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"That was the start of it and you thought, well something's going to go well here. It's either going to be a good cup run, a good league campaign or ideally both because we had a good squad size and the depth. We weren't one of the biggest budget teams. We tried to build a lot of flexibility and have two or three outstanding freaks almost. I mean that in a loving way, people like [Aden] Flinty, from set plays he was always going to be dangerous, add Milan Djuric in there, Eros Pisano. He was worth goals from full-back as well."

The second round saw the Robins claim their first Premier League scalp of the competition as goals from Freddie Hinds, Bobby Reid and Niclas Eliasson earned them an impressive 3-2 win over Watford to set up a home tie against Stoke City in the third round.

Unlike the win over the Hornets, a heavily rotated City side breezed past Mark Hughes' Potters at Ashton Gate. Goals from Famara Diedhiou and Matty Taylor in the second half sending the Robins faithful into delirium and booking the Robins' place in the fourth round where they met Roy Hodgson and Crystal Palace.

With just 21 minutes on the clock, Bakary Sako gave the Eagles the lead and it looked as if Johnson's side's run in the League Cup was set to come to an end. However, four unanswered strikes from Taylor, Djuric, Joe Bryan and Callum O'Dowda not only helped the Reds secure another win over Premier League opposition but also left Hodgson furious with his side.

"I think it was one of Roy Hodgson's first games and he's a class act, but he likes a swear word," Johnson explained. "Behind the scenes when I spoke to him, he was so angry with the team.

"He was effing and blinding and I was just sitting there, trying not to laugh because I was thinking to myself, we really played well today and we look like the real deal here."

Victory over Palace in BS3 set up the biggest tie of Johnson's managerial career so far as Bristol City would welcome Jose Mourinho and Manchester United to the West Country just days before Christmas, having not played the Red Devils in a competitive fixture since 1980.

Although the former City midfielder cannot recall where he was when the draw was made, the extra excitement around the training ground was noticeable, even if he had additional tasks on his mind in the days leading up to the clash.

"The buzz around the place was unbelievable," admitted the 43-year-old. "Dean Holden's a Manchester United fan, Jamie McAllister had a red devil tattooed on his calf, which I knock him for. He actually went over it with some sort of rose, but it's still underneath it. There was a buzz around the place.

"It's not really tangible with words or actions, but you can see people move about a bit quicker. They're a bit more excited. The manager doesn't need to do anything really, because it's more down to the players and the buzz of the players.

"I decided I had to get Jose and chat with him. He was one of my heroes. I said how can I make sure I have a chat and I think my dad had done it many years ago when he said he was going to buy a really nice bottle of wine. I heard that Jose's favourite wine was a Barca Velha from his home town in Portugal. I didn't know a lot about wine, but I knew this one was elite so I tried so hard to find it.

"I actually didn't find it, but I got one very similar from a Michelin-star restaurant in Bristol. I'd said to Mark Kelly, 'There's a lot of game stuff going on, could you do it?' He said, 'Of course, I'll sort it'. I checked two or three times on the way that this wine was going to be there and he said, 'Don't worry, I'll sort it, just relax and concentrate on the game.'

"When I got into my office, the wine was there all set and I scanned the barcode and it was £18.99 from Tesco. Mark says I rang him up and said: 'Am I some sort of idiot?' I don't think I'd have been that rude but he said, 'What do you mean gaffer?' and I said, 'I've scanned this barcode and it's £18.99 from Tesco.' He said, 'Oh my God, I'm so sorry I forgot.' In that period, we then tried to get this Barca Velha which was almost impossible so we ended up getting a version that was £350 instead."

In the days leading up to the meeting with the Red Devils, Johnson had made the trip to Manchester to see Guardiola's City beat United 2-1 at Old Trafford thanks to goals from David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi. Having seen the Premier League giants get the better of Mourinho's side with two false nines at the top of the pitch, the Bristol City boss made the call to start Jamie Paterson alongside Reid at the top of the pitch, with the Reds' width coming from Bryan and Josh Brownhill.

The 'Special One' also surprised with his team selection. Instead of naming a side full of academy players as some expected, Mourinho deployed the big guns with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Anthony Martial all named in the starting line-up. Although the supporters inside Ashton Gate and Johnson himself knew the Robins were underdogs, the head coach was confident his system could exploit the weaknesses in United's ranks.

"I didn't think they would play as strong a team as they did if I'm honest," the former Hibernian boss admitted. "I thought they would play a lot more younger players than they did, but I knew there was an attitude problem in that team. I knew that Ibrahimovic was going to play. I found out that he basically had half a leg because he was coming back from injury. I wasn't sure if Pogba would play, but I knew if he did he wouldn't want to run around because sometimes it's a bit embarrassing for a player like that to have to work hard.

"I wanted to be in the game. I knew it was important to our fans. I knew it was important to the players and I thought that was the best way for us to have some sort of control in the game. I made that decision which we hadn't done before, to play two false nines and have our two stretch players as our wide men. The lads loved it and bought into it and we needed to outnumber their quality in midfield and that was the key."

Even as the players took to the field for their warm-up at Ashton Gate, the atmosphere inside the stadium was palpable. A sell-out crowd and a full away end flooded into the stadium for what at the point was the biggest game of City's season.

When the players walked out of the tunnel ahead of kick-off with 'One for the Bristol City' blaring out of the stadium's speakers, every fan inside the ground was on their feet applauding the team. That atmosphere was not lost on the coaching team inside the technical area.

"The hairs stand up on the back of your neck because you've got the club," smiled Johnson. "Football now is relentless. It's like survive, strive and thrive. We'd got to the point of thriving and that was amazing because it's a battle to get through and survive. The first season we stayed up. Second season, we had to try and reduce the average age of the squad by six or seven years, stay up and play a brand of football and keep the fans onside. That was the season where we started to thrive and I was really proud of the work that everybody had done, the players, the staff and the board to get to that point.

"That's what you feel. You can't really put it into words. It's just an illumination of pride and belief that everyone is doing the right thing. I remember looking up at Steve Lansdown and he's got tears in his eyes both at the United game and the City game away. You could see how proud he was and he deserved moments like that as well, the family did, Maggie, Jon, Amy and Mark Ashton because they put so much effort in, so much money and obviously still continue to.

"I wanted them to enjoy that moment as well, in the Lansdown Stand in the stadium built by him and taking it to the point where we've beaten Man United, we're in the semi-final of the cup and hopefully taking it to a point where we're going on to get promoted as well. It was a nice connection moment between manager and owner."

The first half of the game panned out as most supporters would have expected. United had chances as Marcus Rashford struck the post from long range and Luke Steele was forced into some big saves in the Robins net. However, Johnson's side threatened with Brownhill and Hordur Magnusson testing Sergio Romero.

Ultimately, the two sides headed into the break level at half-time and though the Red Devils had come closest to breaking the deadlock, the Robins boss was keen to focus on the positives from a competitive first 45 minutes.

"When you're playing one of the best teams in the world and they're having those sort of chances, you sort of accept it," Johnson explained. "But, you move on quickly from it and try to double down on the positive bits of play that had happened.

"We knew they'd fatigue. We knew that the longer the game went on, the more chance we'd have of getting a draw or a win. I think it was all about spirit then. We fed off of the crowd, we fed off the feeling. Players can do extraordinary things when they're like that and in that mode."

Just 16 minutes into the second half, Marlon Pack played a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Bryan who from the corner of the penalty area let fly with his left foot to cannon a shot past Romero and into the top right corner of the goal.

As the academy graduate went sliding towards Section 82, the rest of Ashton Gate fell into a state of pandemonium as one of their own gifted them the lead against one of the world's biggest football clubs and managers. However, his manager wasn't quite able to enjoy the moment on the touchline.

"The feeling at that point was just pure concentration," explained Johnson. "I probably in my head thought what's he shooting from there for? I'm very maths-orientated so when they're shaping up to shoot, I'm thinking it's a one-in-35 chance.

"I'm glad he did because it's a wonderful strike. I remember thinking at the time, I'm so glad it's Joe. Imagine all the coaches that have influenced Joe over the years, his school teachers, his mates and all of those people. It was just so nice that a Bristol boy scored that goal."

Unfortunately, the Robins' lead didn't last too long as Ibrahimovic smashed home a free-kick just a matter of minutes after Bryan's opener to level the tie. The Swedish forward opted to shoot around the Reds' wall and Steele was unable to do enough to stop it from nestling in the bottom corner.

Quickly after the leveller Mourinho turned to his bench to introduce both Romelu Lukaku and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, two of United's most expensive and high-profile attacking players as he looked for a second goal to confirm his side's place in the semi-finals. But City managed to hold their own and ensure that Ibrahimovic's goal didn't see them capitulate.

"At that point, it's about the scenarios and at that point you can have quite a big effect as a manager," reflected Johnson. "You can start dissing everybody and have bad body language. Or you can start spreading a message, just to reengage and focus the mind.

"But I think by that time, the crowd and the players had the belief that this was on. I can't remember what changes I made. Obviously, I remember Matty Taylor coming on."

Former Bristol Rovers forward Taylor was introduced in place of Magnusson with just over 20 minutes left to play at Ashton Gate. Having pestered the Manchester United backline for much of the second half, the striker produced a measured pass to pick out Korey Smith inside the Red Devil's penalty area deep in injury time.

The Ashton Gate crowd almost fell silent for a split second as the midfielder brought the ball down on his chest before turning and volleying into the back of the net. His goal secured the win for Bristol City, sent the home fans into delirium and his manager running down the touchline to swing a ball boy round in the air.

"I don't think I'd have even thought about Korey if you asked who was going to score," Johnson joked while reflecting on the winning goal. "I'll be honest with you, I was on the move as he gets in and I think that's because I had the trust that he would finish.

"Isn't that a lovely moment? Everyone takes a breath thinking we've got a chance. That's the beauty of live football and you'll never get that on TV. There was a deathly silence and it was the calm before the storm. Then there is this realisation that this goal has happened and it was just pandemonium. There were limbs everywhere and I'm almost choking up as I think about it because I don't think about things like that.

"Subconsciously, I wanted to celebrate with Korey, like a player's mindset. Very rarely as a manager do you get that moment because there's always time to play or you score too early and you can't go down that route. That was a winning goal if ever you've seen one and I just remember sprinting down and little Jayden running up to me. He's probably not so little now and I wouldn't be able to do it today. I think that moment went viral around the world because of the commentary, the goal and the timing of the shots on the TV. It was probably a once in a career type of moment.

"It was a beautiful moment. It’s just what football should be and the rest is absolute history. I remember thinking this is for the people. This is for the Lansdowns. This is for all the people in the academy who work all hours of every day that nobody sees. This is for the fans that spend hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years travelling, all the rubbish games they've seen in the freezing cold, the long journeys in traffic. That's what it was for and that's why it was such a great moment."

Two minutes later the referee's whistle was blown and the result was secured with thousands of Bristol City supporters piling onto the Ashton Gate turf to celebrate one of the club's biggest-ever wins. While the players were embraced by the supporters, Johnson headed down the tunnel to conduct his media duties and celebrate with those behind the scenes.

Having searched high and wide for the Barca Velha, the then 36-year-old was keen to share a glass with Mourinho in his office. Although he did manage to catch up with the Portuguese manager, his evening didn't quite pan out as initially planned.

"Afterwards, we had the draw and Jose gave me a shirt that said: 'To Lee, big hugs. See you in the Premier League,'" the former Robins boss explained. "He said to me, 'Lee you deserved it. You were fantastic. Brilliant team. Brilliant manager. Brilliant club. You fully deserved the win.' Then the Sky cameras were set up three or four yards away from where we were talking.

"He then went on Sky and he went: 'Lee Johnson is the luckiest manager and Bristol City are the luckiest team in the land. We should have won that today,' and I remember just having that wry smile, thinking you cheeky little bugger.

"Jose didn't get a chance to come in after the game and we had a sommelier there, someone to properly decant the wine so everything was set up. I walked in and the only two people in there were the sommelier and David Coles, my goalie coach and he was sipping on this £350 bottle of wine. He said, 'This is lovely gaffer'. I turned around and was like 'Oi you, spit that back in'."

Bristol City's Carabao Cup journey came to an end in the semi-finals against Manchester City. The Robins ran Guardiola's side close in both legs but were beaten 5-3 on aggregate and City unsurprisingly went on to beat Arsenal in the final at Wembley.

Although Johnson's side mounted genuine challenges for the play-off positions in each of his last three seasons in the South West, the former midfielder was sacked in the summer of 2020 following a Severnside derby defeat at Ashton Gate which all but ended the Reds' hopes of a top-six finish.

Since then the 43-year-old has spent time in charge of Sunderland, Hibernian and Fleetwood Town, managing to win the Football League Trophy with the Black Cats and qualifying for the Europa Conference League in his time in Edinburgh.

While he has been out of work since departing Highbury in December of 2023, Johnson is eager to return to management and experience nights like the win over Manchester United again having reflected on his career and developed his craft over the last year.

"It's a warped world, football management," smiled the ex-City boss. "As painful as it is, it's brilliant and there are so many facets to it. It's the personal relationships and what I love is building relationships and the team-building process. Players bringing out their best within the playing philosophy and then winning games off the back of it.

"All the other stuff, I don't care but when you get the alignment from board, to fans, to players and staff, it's amazing. There's a lot of work which goes into that and a lot of trust from everyone. I look back at that and I think to myself, I'm definitely a better manager. I've now managed in Europe which was a really interesting and unique experience. Sunderland is a huge club, we were getting 34,000 on a Tuesday night in League One. But I think the most important thing is this time I've had off.

"When you're moving so quickly from job to job, you probably don't get the time to redefine how you work and adapt and progress it. This period I've had has really given me that reflection time. I went out to Nigeria to study African players and the journey they're on, so I'd be a bit more considerate about an African player's journey. I've been out to Copenhagen. I've coached next to Guardiola at Manchester City. I wouldn't have had those experiences if I hadn't had this time out. I've reflected on those half-time team talks and I've reflected on the data of my successful teams.

"My challenge is to get back in at a level where I've got the same sort of high-quality staff that I had at Bristol City at that time. That includes players to implement that. If it's not, if it's lower down, you've got to find a way to tone the complexity down. If you look at my body of work over 12 years of management, there's been a lot of success there and I feel now is the time I can piece those good bits together and go in somewhere energised to add value to a football club."

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