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Manchester City escape Swansea City scare to reach FA Cup semi-finals
 
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Sat, 16 Mar 2019   ||   Nigeria,
 

FA CUP QUARTER FINAL -             Manchester City have kept their multiple hopes alive by coming from two goals down to beat Championship side Swansea City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

It looked as though Pep Guardiola's side's attempts to scoop all four trophies would end on a rainy evening in South Wales when Swansea took a shock 2-0 lead through a Matt Grimes penalty and a stunning team goal finished off by former City player Bersant Celina.

Bernardo Silva, however sparked the comeback 20 minutes from time before a controversial penalty and a late Sergio Aguero winner - neither of which would have stood with the aid of VAR - completed a memorable turnaround.

It was a heartbreaking end for Swansea, who fought so valiantly on home turf, but Man City progress into the semi-finals of the competition and remain in the hunt for a clean sweep of silverware this term.

The visitors - fresh from scoring seven past Schalke in the Champions League on Tuesday night - unsurprisingly began the match on top and the early stages suggested that it may again be a question of how many they would score.

Leroy Sane was the first to threaten when he skipped past his marker before stinging the palms of Kristoffer Nordfeldt, and Riyad Mahrez should have tucked the rebound home when he nodded the ball narrowly wide of an unguarded net.

Nordfeldt was called into action again shortly afterwards when Sane this time stood the ball up to the back post having again worked space down the left, but Bernardo Silva could only scuff his volley into the ground to make things a little easier for the keeper.

Swansea had created one or two good attacking platforms which they were unable to take advantage of in the opening 20 minutes, but they were gifted the chance to take a shock lead when Fabian Delph rashly brought Connor Roberts to ground inside the area.

Referee Andre Marriner had little choice but to point to the spot, and Matt Grimes was the picture of composure to send Ederson the wrong way.

Grimes almost turned from hero to villain when he gave possession away cheaply moments later, but Man City's failure to make the most of a promising situation was symptomatic of a first-half performance during which they were far short of their ruthless best.

Most would have still expected the English champions to recover from a one-goal deficit, but Swansea doubled their advantage just before the half-hour mark to leave City's quadruple dreams in serious jeopardy.

Suddenly Swansea were brimming with belief, and Roberts curled another effort wide moments after the second as they looked to put their visitors to bed inside the first half.

Man City continued to create chances themselves, though, and Nordfeldt kept out a driven Bernardo half-volley before Roberts produced a stunning block on his own line to deny David Silva what looked like a certain goal from just six yards out.

 

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