SILVA STAR FOR PEP
Deflected double keeps Guardiola’s Treble hopes alive
BERNARDO SILVA kept Manchester City’s dream of backto-back Treble glory on track as Newcastle went down with a whimper.
The promise of a fiery cup contest turned into a damp squib in the Manchester rain as City eased into the FA Cup semi-finals at a canter to book another Wembley day-out.
Midfield maestro Silva inflicted the damage with two deflected goals in little more than half an hour to make it another trophyless season for the Toon, who have not celebrated domestic silverware since 1955.
To have any chance against City you need perfection or something near it. But Newcastle were miles off being a competitive force at The Etihad and a season which offered plenty is now petering out in disappointing fashion.
City, though, headed into the international break with another convincing statement of intent.
Guardiola and his stars might have bigger fish to fry than the FA Cup with the league battle intensifying and Real Madrid on the horizon in the Champions League quarter finals.
But the Spaniard still went super strong with a starting line-up that left his hunger to sweep the board again in little doubt against a Toon team looking to break a shocking sequence of results at The Etihad.
Newcastle arrived having lost 15 of their last 16 away games against City – including the last nine – with the Geordies not posting a win for almost a decade.
And the prospect of changing that narrative slid away with the game in its infancy as City took a 13th minute lead.
The match was already turning into one-way traffic when Rodri found Silva lurking just outside Newcastle’s box.
The midfielder fired in a left-foot shot and watched as Dan Burn turned his back, stuck out a lazy leg and diverted a looping ball high over Martin Dubravka into the far corner.
It condemned Howe’s stars to the prospect of containing a dominant City while trying to find a way back.
That idea was snuffed out after 31 minutes as City’s relentless passing paid off a second time for Silva.
This time it was Ruben Dias finding the tricky Portuguese star who’d once again found a dangerous pocket of space.
Silva’s shot looked to have been covered by Dubravka until Sven Botman jabbed his head towards the ball, sending it past his keeper.
If they didn’t know it after Silva’s first, Newcastle’s travelling army of
9,000 fans surely knew the game was not retrievable.
Alexander Isak briefly raised hopes with a well struck shot inside the box but Stefan Ortega pulled off a smart save.
While Silva eased himself into hat-trick territory, Jeremy Doku provided the visitors some headaches with darting runs.
And a barnstorming Haaland break ended with a rare shot off target. Howe made a quadruple change that livened his side up but the damage had been done.