Emirates FA Cup holders Manchester City cruise into semi-finals

Sunday 28 Jun 2020
Birthday boy Kevin De Bruyne is congratulated after scoring Manchester City's first goal

Emirates FA Cup holders Manchester City produced a dominant performance to ease past Newcastle United and into the semi-finals of this year's competition.

A first-half penalty from Kevin De Bruyne on his 29th birthday was added to in style by Raheem Sterling, moments after Dwight Gayle had spurned a great chance to equalise for the hosts.

Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester City

2019-20 Emirates FA Cup quarter-final
6.30pm BST, Sunday 28 June
St. James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

City were in control for the majority of the game, recording 76 per cent of the possession and racking up 20 shots to set up a place in the last four of the competition.

Newcastle went into the game aiming to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2005 with Steve Bruce, a three-time winner as a player, giving Andy Carroll his first start of 2020.

Fresh from the confirmation that they had missed out on retaining the Premier League title, City looked keen to tighten their grip on the Emirates FA Cup with Pep Guardiola naming a strong side. 

The holders laid siege to the Newcastle goal from the outset, putting together no less than 240 passes inside the opening half-hour. In that time, Benjamin Mendy and Riyad Mahrez both flashed shots narrowly off target, while Sterling tested Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

The hosts' resolve was finally broken ten minutes before the break when, after Javier Manquillo had shoved Gabriel Jesus to the ground, De Bruyne slotted home from the penalty spot.

City continued to cruise and almost added a second in first-half stoppage time, when Aymeric Laporte's header dropped inches wide of Darlow's goal.

With the semi-final draw taking place at half-time, the two sides came out for the second half knowing they were competing to face Arsenal in the last four.

And the Magpies certainly fared better after the break than before it, restricting City to half-chances and starting to find a foothold of their own.

A flurry of substitutions just after the hour mark saw the sides make two changes each, and one of those introduced by Newcastle almost grabbed an immediate leveller as Dwight Gayle was superbly teed up by Allan Saint-Maximin only to side-foot over the bar from a few yards out.

Newcastle's profligacy was punished within a minute, as Sterling cut in from the left before bending the ball past Darlow and inside the far post to double City's lead.

The goal seemed to knock the wind out of Newcastle's sails, with Gayle's chance looking more and more gilt-edged as City resumed their dominance to see out the game.

Newcastle United: 26 Karl Darlow, 5 Fabian Schar, 6 Jamaal Lascelles (C), 7 Andy Carroll, 10 Allan Saint-Maximin, 14 Isaac Hayden, 18 Federico Fernandez, 19 Javier Manquillo, 24 Miguel Almiron, 28 Danny Rose, 36 Sean Longstaff

Substitutions: 9 Joelinton for Almiron 65', 12 Dwight Gayle for Carroll 65', 23 Valentino Lazaro for Saint-Maximin 74', 22 DeAndre Yedlin for Rose 75', 43 Matthew Longstaff for Hayden 79'

Unused substitutes: 1 Martin Dubravka (GK), 8 Jonjo Shelvey, 13 Yoshinori Muto, 17 Emil Krafth

Yellow cards: Carroll 61' & Joelinton 90+2'

Manager: Steve Bruce

Manchester City: 1 Claudio Bravo, 2 Kyle Walker, 7 Raheem Sterling, 8 Ilkay Gundogan, 9 Gabriel Jesus, 14 Aymeric Laporte, 17 Kevin De Bruyne, 21 David Silva, 22 Benjamin Mendy, 26 Riyad Mahrez, 30 Nicolas Otamendi

Substitutions: 20 Bernardo Silva for David Silva 64', 47 Phil Foden for Mahrez 64', 16 Rodri for De Bruyne 71', 27 Joao Cancelo for Walker 71'

Unused substitutes: 31 Ederson Moraes (GK), 5 John Stones, 11 Oleksandr Zinchenko, 19 Leroy Sane, 72 Taylor Harwood-Bellis

Goals: Kevin De Bruyne (penalty) 37' & Raheem Sterling 68'

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Referee: Jon Moss

By Jim Lucas