Man City book FA Cup semi-final spot

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  • Post published:March 20, 2021

Manchester City advanced to the semi-finals of the Emirates FA Cup following their 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday evening.

Pep Guardiola made six changes from their 2-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach in midweek as Zack Steffen came in for Ederson, with Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko and João Cancelo in defence.

Meanwhile, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez came out for Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.

City enjoyed most of the possession in the early exchanges, while the Toffees sat back and soaked up the pressure.

Everton had a chance of their own a minute later when Richarlison turned his marker before firing an effort at goal but the Brazilian blazed his effort over the crossbar.

The home side had another chance to take the lead in the 44th minute but Yerry Mina saw his header intercepted by Zinchenko, who cleared the ball from danger as the game went into the break locked at 0-0.

Everton produced the first real chance of the second half as Mina heads down a long free kick into the box, which bounced down for Richarlison just inside the box, but his half-volley dropped a yard wide of Steffen’s right-hand post.

Virginia was called into action in the 59th minute when Fernandinho cut the ball back for Sterling, who fired an effort towards goal, which was heading towards the corner but the Everton shotstopper made a finger-tip save to deny the City attacker.

The home side thought they should’ve been awarded a penalty in the 70th minute when Dias’ elbow touched the ball in the box, but VAR saw nothing wrong after a check.

Man City eventually took the lead in the 84th minute when Gundogan nodded home Laporte’s rebound shot to make it 1-0.

The visitors then doubled their lead in stoppage time when De Bruyne beat the offside trap and was clear through on goal before taking the ball with his left to beat the Everton goalkeeper.

City held on to their lead until the final whistle to book their place in the semi-finals of the competition.