Defending champion Manchester City broke its knot at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium when it defeated the London team 1-0 on Friday and reached the round of 16 in the FA Cup.
Manchester City owes its victory to its Dutch international defender Nathan Ake, who scored the only goal in the 88th minute by taking advantage of a rebound from Italian international goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario following a corner kick taken by Belgian international substitute Kevin De Bruyne.
Tottenham protested the winning goal on the grounds that their goalkeeper was harassed by City’s Portuguese international defender Ruben Diash, but to no avail.
It is the first goal and the first victory for City at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium since its opening in April 2019, as it lost in all five of its previous visits to this stadium without scoring any goal.
City continued its victories in its last seven matches in various competitions, and continued the campaign to defend the competition, which was one of three titles won last season, in addition to the local league and the European Champions League.
City won the FA Cup title at the expense of its neighbor, Manchester United, who is second on the list of the best winners of the title (12 titles, two behind Arsenal, the record holder), when it defeated them 2-1.
City, seeking the eighth title in the competition to be equal with Liverpool and Chelsea, joined Bournemouth, which was the first to qualify for the eighth final, with a great victory over its guest, Swansea City, from the second level (Championship), 5-0, on Thursday, at the opening of the fourth round.
Manchester City was the better side for most of the match and its attackers created many real scoring opportunities without succeeding in translating them into goals.
The club’s Spanish coach, Pep Guardiola, was forced to bring on De Bruyne and his compatriot Jeremy Doku in the 65th minute in place of the promising Norwegian Oscar Pope and the Argentine Julián Alvarez, and the match was on its way to a draw before Ake took advantage of the rebound from Guglielmo and followed it into the goal.
City players shot 84 times at Tottenham’s goal, including 22 between the three goals.
Aston Villa imposed a rematch on its host Chelsea when they forced it to a goalless draw, and the same was true for Tottingham Forest, which tied with the same score with its host Bristol City from the second level, and Coventry City from the same level, with a draw with its host Sheffield Wednesday from the same level, with a goal by the Dane Victor Torp (45) vs. Goal by Frenchman Djedi Gassama (84).
The fourth round will be completed on Saturday with meetings between Ipswich Town (second level) with Maidstone United (fifth level), Leicester City (second level) with Birmingham City (second level), Leeds United (second level) with Plymouth Argyle (second level), and Everton with Luton. Town, Sheffield United with Brighton, and Fulham with Newcastle United.
On Sunday, West Bromwich Albion (second level) will play with Wolverhampton, Watford (second level) will play with Southampton (second level), Liverpool will play Norwich City (second level), Newport County (fourth level) will play with Manchester United, and on Monday Blackburn Rovers (second level) will play. With Wrexham (Level 4).
2024-01-26 23:06:44
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