City ride luck, United eliminated
Bid to make history benefits from two officiating errors in FA Cup comeback, while Wolves also into last four
Manchester City’s quest for a quadruple is still on, thanks to a bit of luck and some help from the referee, but Manchester United has only one remaining chance for silverware after being dumped out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
On a contrasting Sunday for the two rivals, City came from two goals down to defeat second-tier Swansea 3-2 in the quarter-finals, while United went down 2-1 at Wolverhampton.
Wolves held on to win a game they dominated but Swansea couldn’t protect their 2-0 lead against a City side that benefited from two refereeing mistakes. City were incorrectly awarded a penalty that led to the equaliser before Sergio Aguero scored the winner from an offside position to end Swansea’s hopes of pulling off a massive upset.
It all kept them on track for a possible four titles. City have already won the League Cup, lead the Premier League and are into the Champions League quarter-finals. But City almost saw their FA Cup campaign ended by a Championship side for the second straight season, having lost to Wigan in the fifth round last year.
In a game played in driving rain, Matt Grimes gave Swansea the lead from the penalty spot in the 20th minute. Bersant Celina then doubled the lead by finishing off a sublime move with a curling first-time finish into the corner after half an hour.
It was a goal that had all the hallmarks of City’s slick attacking play, which was missing from the visitors for most of the match. Pep Guardiola’s team still found a way back into the game in the 69th minute when Aguero had a shot blocked before playing the ball out to Bernardo Silva, who rifled a shot with the outside of his boot into the corner.
City continued to pressure Swansea and the penalty came when Cameron Carter-Vickers was adjudged to have fouled Raheem Sterling in the box, even though replays clearly showed he got the ball.
Aguero’s spot kick hit the post before the ball went in off luckless goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt.
The Argentina striker then headed the winner in the 88th minute but replays showed he was offside when the cross was delivered, highlighting the absence of video reviews for the game. VAR was in use only at Premier League stadiums in the quarter-finals.
“If it’s not a penalty, I’m sorry. If it’s offside, I’m sorry,” said Guardiola, who added he had not seen replays of either incident. “Why is VAR not here? That’s the question for the authorities.”
Swansea manager Graham Potter refused to blame the referee.
“City had chances of course, you can’t deny if you look at the game that they deserved to win,” Potter said. “But for the players, it’s disappointing to lose goals in that manner. That’s life, referees make mistakes as well.”
Wolves, meanwhile, reached the semifinals for the first time since 1998 after Raul Jimenez and Diego Jota scored in a six-minute span in the second half.
Jimenez swivelled in the box and fired a shot past two defenders and goalkeeper Sergio Romero, who had made a string of saves to keep United in the game.
Jota then finished off a lightning counter-attack to double the lead, which never looked under threat until Marcus Rashford pulled back a consolation goal deep into injury time.
United had knocked out Arsenal and Chelsea in the previous two rounds but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer now has only the Champions League left as a trophy target, although his team has to get past Barcelona in the last eight.
Watford also reached the last four after substitute Andre Gray scored two minutes after coming off the bench to secure a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
Millwall hosted Brighton in the last quarter-final overnight.
In the Premier League, Huddersfield’s hopes of staving off Premier League relegation are all but over after giving up a two-goal lead to lose 4-3 at West Ham, while Burnley put themselves in danger of going down when they couldn’t convert a oneman advantage against Leicester City, losing 2-1 after conceding a lastminute goal. In the other game, Newcastle drew 2-2 at Bournemouth.