WIGAN ATHLETIC 1, MAN CITY 0
Will Grigg was on fire as he ended Manchester City’s dream of the quadruple in one of the major Emirates FA Cup shocks of all-time.
Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City were humbled by League One Wigan Athletic who progressed to the quarter finals thanks to a late goal from the Northern Ireland international.
Paul Cook’s minnows had already disposed of Premier League clubs Bournemouth and West Ham, but not many gave them much hope of claiming their biggest scalp yet.
But Guardiola suffered the same fate as City predecessors Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini who also lost to Wigan.
Mancini lost to Roberto Martinez’ Wigan in the 2013 final of the FA Cup, a major upset as was the following year’s loss in the same competition when Pellegrini lost to them when they were a Championship club.
This was the biggest upset of the lot as two divisions separated the teams as City had been gunning for trophies on four fronts.
It was a stirring cup tie in which City were reduced to 10 men late in the opening half after Fabian Delph was sent off.
Grigg was Latics’ hero as the final whistle was greeted by a pitch invasion by jubilant home fans.
Sadly there were ugly scenes as home fans goaded the visitors who responded by hurling missiles on to the pitch while a Wigan fan alleged punched Sergio Aguero as he left the pitch, incidents that are bound to be investigated by the Football Association.
Cook described it as an “outstanding” night for Latics.
He said: “We knew a lot of things had to go right and in our favour as City are such an elite club, an outstanding team, the champions elect and a credit to the the game.
“We had to dig in and made a number of important blocks in the second half, but we deserved it.
“The sending off had a massive contribution to the game. It is what it is, a great night for Wigan Athletic.”
Cook added when the cup draw was made, he received no texts adding it was as though nobody thought they were in the competition.
Guardiola had no complaints about the sending off and didn’t think it influenced the game.
He added City still had more possession and more chances.
Guardiola said: “We made one mistake for the goal and we are out. We are sad as we wanted to go through.
“Football is what happens in 94 minutes. They scored the goal and deserved to go through. We tried our best but it was not good enough.”
Guardiola’s starting line-up signalled his intent as most of their big hitters were on view.
Leroy Sane and Delph returned after injury while the side included Aguero, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Fernandinho, David and Bernardo Silva.
City had a couple of early chances as Aguero headed well over and Gundogan forced a decent diving save from Christian Walton.
If they thought it was going to be a breeze, they were mistaken as Wigan gradually eased their way into the game aided by two errors from Danilo.
City keeper Claudio Bravo beat Gary Roberts in a race for a loose ball after Danilo miscontrolled and then Grigg outpaced the Brazilian defender before firing into the side netting.
Wigan comfortably negotiated the opening half hour, the only setback the loss of Nick Powell through injury as he was replaced by Jay Fulton.
City were struggling to carve out chances, though Fernandinho blazed over when well placed as did Gundogan while Danilo pulled a shot narrowly wide.
The game suddenly exploded to life in stoppage time, initially when Aguero was denied by a flying save from Walton after he left defender Dan Byrne for dead.
City were then reduced to 10 men when Delph was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Max Power.
Referee Anthony Taylor initially produced a yellow card but, after being surrounded by angry Wigan players, changed it to red.
Replays indicated Delph had cleanly won the ball and, though he followed through, was unlucky to be dismissed.
And it kicked off on the touchline as Aguero had a spat with Wigan assistant manager Leam Richardson.
Pictures then showed Guardiola and Wigan manager Paul Cook clashing and being pulled apart in the tunnel at half time.
City brought on Kyle Walker for Sane at the restart as Guardiola rejigged his side.
The second half was bitty and disjointed as City were hustled and harried and never allowed to get into their stride.
And midway through the second period, Guardiola had to summon Kevin De Bruyne from the bench as he replaced David Silva.
Wigan snatched the lead 11 minutes from time through a fine solo effort from Grigg.
The striker cut in from the left and, being hunted down by four players, managed to get in a shot from just inside the box that nestled in the net low to the left of Claudio Bravo.
City subjected Wigan’s goal to sustained pressure late on, but the hosts held on to their lead without being unduly troubled to spark amazing scenes at the final whistle.