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Man City advance to FA Cup semifinals with win over Everton

Sports Desk, Mar 20 (efe-epa).- Manchester City got goals in the last six minutes from Ilkay Gündogan and Kevin de Bruyne to beat Everton 0-2 and reach the FA Cup semifinals for a third straight year.

The presumptive Premier League winners have already qualified for the Carabao Cup final and earlier this week, they secured their spot in the Champions League quarterfinals.

With Saturday’s result at Goodison Park, talk of the quadruple will only grow louder regardless of City boss Pep Guardiola’s attempts to pour cold water on the notion.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees conceded 75 percent possession to the league leaders, yet they created two opportunities in the first half to just one for the visiting side.

While Raheem Sterling forced a save from Everton No. 3 goalkeeper Joao Virginia, Richarlison saw his shot go just over the cross-bar and Yerry Mina had a header blocked on the line by City midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Virginia did well to deny Sterling in the 59th minute, City’s best chance of the night to that point.

When the match clock reached 80 minutes with the score still 0-0, Guardiola replaced Sterling with De Bruyne, who combined with Aymeric Laporte four minutes later to set up the first goal for City.

The Belgian found Laporte in the box and the Frenchman let fly. Virginia pushed it away but ended up on the ground and the ball fell to Gündogan for a diving header into the empty net.

De Bruyne scored in the 90th minute to lock down City’s berth in the final four alongside Southampton, who beat second-division side Bournemouth 0-3 earlier Saturday.

The other two spots will be decided Sunday, when Chelsea host Sheffield United and Manchester United visit Leicester City. EFE sd-apa/dr

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