Man City Survive Swansea Scare
Sergio Aguero’s controversial late winner ensured Manchester City dramatically kept their quadruple bid on track as they came from two goals down to beat Swansea and reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
Substitute Aguero beat Swansea keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt with a diving header off Bernardo Silva’s low cross at the end of a superb move in the 88th minute.
Replays showed the Argentina striker was marginally offside but the video assistant review system was not in use at the Liberty Stadium, despite having been used in City’s third and fourth-round ties at their Etihad Stadium home.
City had levelled in contentious circumstances too when Cameron Carter-Vickers was judged to have tripped replacement Raheem Sterling in the area and Aguero’s penalty hit the post before rebounding in off Nordfeldt for an own goal.
Defeat was harsh on the impressive hosts, who led 2-0 inside 30 minutes through Matt Grimes’ penalty and Bersant Celina’s spectacular second.
The former City player, who was mocked for an extraordinary penalty miss against West Brom on Wednesday, curled a sumptuous first-time effort beyond Ederson at the end of a tremendous, flowing move.
City fielded a strong side but needed Sterling and Aguero to come off the bench to shake them out of their fatigue, the latter setting up Bernardo for the visitors’ opener, which sparked their thrilling comeback in the last half hour.
Having scored 16 goals in three previous FA Cup games this season and after thrashing Schalke 7-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday, City’s bright start to this game seemed to indicate that this would be another stroll.
Yet after missing a few chances, with Nordfeldt also making two fine saves, the front three of Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez started to lose their composure - and so did City’s defence.
Fabian Delph, who was sent off in his side’s fifth-round defeat by Wigan last year, was caught