Everton 0-2 Manchester City: Match Statistics
It was to be just Ilke Gundogan.
With the hopes of hanging on with Manchester City’s quadruple balance at Goodison Park on Saturday evening, the Germany international stabilized himself headlong into an empty net and paved the way for progress with a tough clash in the semi-finals of the FA Cup Did -0 win over Overton.
Gundogan has arguably been the city player of the season, so he is not surprised to see that he will once again make the same difference when Pep Guardiola needed him the most.
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti had tried his best to keep the midfielder calm, with twin destroyers Andre Gomes and Alan tracking Gundogan’s every move to try to minimize his impact.
But the 30-year-old is having his best season in front of goal and no one will deny his 16th goal of such an impressive campaign.
In a tight skirmish, the opportunity he had been waiting for finally came in the 84th minute, when the shot by Iameric Laporte bounced the bar back. There was no doubt that Gundogan would be in the right place at the right time to finish the rebound.
Substitute Kevin De Bruyne added a second in the 90th minute, but it was a game that was in the balance for a long, long time. In fact, it was a reminder of how fine the margin is for the City to pull a historic quadruple.
Ancelotti certainly did not make it easy for Guardiola as he showed all his experiences for suffocation in the city for a long time.
Despite 77 percent of possession in the first half, Everton managed to save third-option keeper João Virginia from serious danger and his only remaining effort during the opening 45 minutes was a comfortable catch from Rahim Sterling’s 20-yard strike. .
The Toffees rarely pushed forward, but when they did, they tried to use the physical strength of Dominic Calvert-Levine and Richardson to cut City’s back line.
The host team came close to opening the scoring when Yeri Mina’s post-post flick by Oleksandr Zinchenko was called off.
City began to take on more danger when the game began, however, and Virginia, playing only due to injuries to Jordan Pickford and Robin Olsen, managed to save one of their fingers from Sterling just before the hour mark. Raw quality shown.
Even he gave a slight touch to Laporte’s late effort, but ultimately could not stop Gundogan from surviving the hopes of an unprecedented quadruple city.
The rushing Premier League leaders faced Tottenham in next month’s Carabao Cup final and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-finals, while they have now sealed their place in the final four of the FA Cup.
With the games ticking down, it is now quantitative how many wins they need to secure all four trophies.
Five in the Premier League will ensure a third title in four years, double the domestic cup, while European relations will be settled on two legs before the May final in Istanbul.
Although a quadruple is still not very likely, City will remain in contention against Dortmund for at least the second leg until April 14 for all four trophies, with only two sides ever being in quadruple contention at a later date.
Manchester United lasted five days in 2009 before losing the FA Cup semi-finals in 2009, while Chelsea made it on 1 May 2007 before being beaten in the Champions League semi-finals.
Guardiola insisted that a four was impossible and would remind his players that they had not received a single trophy in the bag yet.
With a full squad to choose from at Goodison Park and an incredible bench including De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, João Canso and Sergio Aguero, he will just be hoping that his players are clear about the injury during the international break Can tell.
If they are, however, the impossible dream may still come true.
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