TOO EASY FOR PEP & CO

MANCHESTER CITY boss Pep Guardiola is back at Wembley after brushing Middlesbrough aside in yesterday’s FA Cup Quarter-Final.

David Silva grabbed the first and Sergio Aguero scored his fourth FA Cup goal of the season to book Guardiola his ticket back to the scene of his Champions League triumphs both as a Barcelona player and manager.

Guardiola arrived at the Riverside with Boro coach Aitor Karanka sticking the knife in by saying the Spanish coach was not as special as his pal Jose Mourinho.

But as the City boss heads to Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday and with a Wembley date already in his diary, that remark is clearly open to debate. Guardiola, though, was just delighted to have won after a tough route to the capital for the semi-final. He said: “We were outstanding from the beginning.

“We have now played three teams from the Premier League and one from the Championship.

“We were there from the first minute. And when you attack good, you defend good. We want to play in this way. I like to work with these guys – I’m so happy.”

The only sore point of the day for City was an x-rated lunge from Boro’s Adam Clayton on Raheem Sterling.

Clayton, who started his career at City, was not booked for the challenge but Aguero reacted furiously to what looked a red-card offence.

But a calm Guardiola said: “All the games are physical.

“The referees have to speak between themselves. I was told when I came here not to talk about referees in press conferences.

“I don’t want to talk about referees. I’m not going to talk about the referees. I will just say that we are desperate to play and win games.”