Almost impossible to win quadruple, says Pep

THE “impossible” quadruple dream remains intact for Manchester City after an early headed goal from Gabriel Jesus sealed a scrappy 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday to put them into the FA Cup final.

Jesus, launched himself into the air to connect decisively in the third minute but City never hit top gear and they rather laboured to victory in an instantly forgettable match.

Nevertheless, after bagging the League Cup, being locked in a titanic battle with Liverpool for the Premier League title and in the Champions League quarter-finals, Pep Guardiola’s side remain on course for an unprecedented clean sweep.

It was a tired-looking display against Premier League relegation battlers Brighton, though, and City will need to rediscover their spark ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League last-eight tie.

Guardiola was quick to play down the “Q” word.

“My opinion is that nobody has done it (won the quadruple) so why can we do it?,” Guardiola said.

“It is almost impossible to achieve everything, that is the truth. Our fans will come, more than today, for the final, we are losing players every game but still we will try to do it.

“I am happy to be in the final, we extend our season by one more week and we are happy for that.”

Back at Wembley where they beat Chelsea on penalties to win the League Cup in February, City were huge favourites to get past a Brighton side with other things on their mind.

Whatever plan Brighton boss Chris Hughton had cooked up to stop a City side who had won 20 of their last 22 matches in all competitions was in tatters after only three minutes.

In one of the only fluid moves they put together all afternoon at a lessthan-full Wembley, Kevin De Bruyne whipped in a superb low cross and Jesus arrived at the far post to plant a diving header past Brighton goalkeeper Matthew Ryan.

The Brighton fans, who greatly outnumbered City’s in the 71 000 crowd, must have feared the worst in the south coast’s club’s first FA Cup semi-final since 1983 when they beat Sheffield Wednesday before losing the final to Manchester United in a replay after the first game ended 2-2.

But the onslaught never arrived. And had City fullback Kyle Walker been shown a red card during the first half after a clash with Alireza Jahanbakhsh the outcome could have been different.

. City will meet Watford in the final after Gerard Deulofeu started and finished off a furious comeback for the side against Wolverhampton Wanderers last night.

Deulofeu’s second goal of the game in extra-time gave the Hornets a 3-2 win over Wolves in a entertaining semi-final at Wembley Stadium.

Wolves look headed to their first FA Cup final since 1960 after goals from Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez had them 2-0 up with 11 minutes remaining.

But Deulofeu came off the bench to give Watford hope and Troy Deeney’s stoppage-time penalty forced extra-time.

Deulofeu then struck again in the 104th minute to book Watford’s place in the May 18 final.

“In the final anything can happen,” Deulofeu said of taking on a City side in the running for four trophies this season.

“We know it’s going to be tough but we’re going. We can do it.”

“We had it, and it got away from us,” Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.

“It was a sad moment, we cannot hide it. We are disappointed.” |

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