SWANSEA CITY 2, MANCHESTER CITY 3 (FA Cup Quarter Final)
Manchester City came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in an epic FA Cup Quarter Final at Swansea City with Sergio Aguero scoring a controversial late winner.
Aguero, a second half substitute, had already had shot blocked before teeing up Bernardo Silva for a fine finish with the outside of his left boot which flew past Kristoffer Nordfeldt to pull the scores back to 2-1 after 69 minutes.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut it was City’s second and third goals that were touched by controversy.
Raheem Sterling went over after Cameron Carter-Vickers was adjudged to have tripped the City sub as he tried to get into a crossing position in the box – a questionable decision.
Aguero’s penalty levelled matters and there an element of luck with that too as his spot kick came back off the inside of the post and ricocheted in off Nordfeldt’s boot with 12 minutes to go.
And replays showed Aguero was offside when Bernardo Silva delivered the ball from the left for the Argentine striker to execute a diving header past Nordfeldt to win the game 2 minutes from the end.
VAR not in use at Liberty Stadium as Manchester City score from penalty and offside header
Had the Video Assistant Referee system (VAR) been in use at the Liberty Stadium City’s penalty which led to their equaliser and their late subsequent winner would have both been chalked off.
The FA had confirmed that VAR would only be in use at Premier League Stadiums, and despite the Swans only being relegated from the top flight at the end of last season the tie did not use the system.
It was so cruel for the Swans, who had taken a shock 2-0 lead within 30 minutes through Matt Grimes’ penalty and ex-City winger Bersant Celina put a shocking penalty miss against West Brom behind him with a brilliant curling second goal.
City manager Pep Guardiola made just four changes from the side that demolished Schalke 04 in midweek – Fabian Delph, Nicolas Otamendi, Riyad Mahrez, and Gabriel Jesus came in to the team.
Danilo, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko stepped down to the bench but the latter three came on in the second half as City found themselves chasing the game.
Delph felled Connor Roberts in the area after a long ball’s bounce had allowed Roberts to turn him.
Matt Grimes smashed the penalty in past Ederson, who dived the wrong way, after 20 minutes.
And Celina’s sweeping curling effort after Nathan Dyer had released him was Premier League quality nine minutes later.
City were staring down the barrel of a shock defeat but kept calm.
Delph, Mahrez and Sane were taken off during the second half, with the in-form Zinchenko, Sterling, and Aguero replacing them.
David Silva had a fierce effort blocked on the line by Roberts and Nordfeldt also saved from Gabriel Jesus – palming his who onto the post – before saving Aguero’s follow-up from the rebound.
But Swansea weren’t so lucky as the Blues roared back to win the tie and keep their quadruple dreams alive in the most dramatic fashion.