Bournemouth 1, Manchester City 2 (FA Cup Quarter Final)
Manchester City secured a seventh straight FA Cup semi final after a comeback win to defeat Bournemouth with goals by Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Cherries had taken a shock first half lead thanks to Evanilson before Erling Haaland levelled the scores and Omar Marmoush scored the winner after coming on as a second half substitute – fellow substitute Nico O’Reilly had laid on both goals.
City went with a highly experienced lineup at Bournemouth but it looked like they would pay a heavy price for early wastefulness with boss Pep Guardiola hugely frustrated on the sidelines.
City had three great chances to take the lead – including a penalty, and Erling Haaland wasted all three including the spot kick following a handball by Tyler Adams – his third penalty miss in six after scoring each of the last 11 he took including shootouts.
Matheus Nunes’ gave away possession cheaply and David Brookes punished loose defending with a floated cross to the back post where Justin Kluivert’s goal bound shot was turned in on the line by Evanilson after 21 minutes.
Nico O’Reilly was introduced at half time for Abdudokir Khusanov who was on a booking, but had precious little to aim at when he broke free on the left.
The City youngster had swapped places with Josko Gvardiol who went into the centre of defence and started offering much more down the left flank.
Phil Foden forced a save out of Kepa with a low drive as City started to show signs of life.
And after 49 minutes O’Reilly was again in acres of space on the left and he supplied the equaliser for Haaland to sweep home his ball from the edge of the six yard area.
Haaland could not continue after being tackled by Lewis Cook soon after that and Omar Marmoush came on to replace the big Norwegian who landed awkwardly and limped off.
Marmoush soon scored after O’Reilly nicked the ball off Antoine Semenyo and released the Egyptian to thread the ball through the legs of Ilya Zabarnyi and past Kepa after 63 minutes.
Marmoush had another effort cleared off the line by Marcos Senesi.
Jack Grealish was City’s third change, replacing Foden with 21 minutes to go as City looked to maximise possession.
Ilkay Gundogan hit the post as City comfortably saw out the win and the Blues will face Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi final.