Pep Guardiola on Sunday said that it is easier for Manchester City to focus on cup glory for the rest of the season as the holders reached the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United.
City are to face Arsenal at an empty Wembley Stadium next month after the Gunners struck in stoppage-time to beat Sheffield United 2-1.
Chelsea were 1-0 victors at Leicester City thanks to Ross Barkley’s winner, which set up a semi-final against Manchester United.
Photo: AFP
Kevin de Bruyne’s penalty and a stunning strike from Raheem Sterling got City back to winning ways on Tyneside after a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea last week that crowned Liverpool champions for the first time in 30 years.
“In the Premier League we are struggling to focus,” Guardiola said. “Now the [FA] Cup and the Champions League it is a little bit different.”
City were utterly dominant in the first half, but had to wait until Gabriel Jesus was pushed by Javier Manquillo inside the penalty area eight minutes before halftime for De Bruyne to break the deadlock.
“We should score more, but we played really well and created enough chances to score a lot of goals,” De Bruyne said. “We know it is really weird [to play behind closed doors], it is not something that I enjoy, but we are professionals and we need to keep going. We wanted to respond in a good way. We are happy we are in a semi-final now.”
City’s eighth league defeat of the season last week again exposed the defensive deficiencies they have to solve if they are to add the club’s first ever Champions League and another FA Cup to the EFL Cup they retained in March.
Newcastle had a glorious opportunity to equalize when Dwight Gayle somehow fired over Allan Saint-Maximin’s cross.
However, City possess plenty of firepower at the other end and moments later Sterling cut inside to curl into the bottom corner from outside the penalty area to kill the tie as a contest.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard made six changes to the team that beat City and was nearly made to pay by a very slow start from his side at the King Power Stadium.
Harvey Barnes, Wilfred Ndidi and Jonny Evans wasted chances for Leicester as Lampard could be heard bellowing “liven up.”
The former England midfielder showed his dissatisfaction by sending on Barkley, Mateo Kovacic and Cesar Azpilicueta at halftime.
Chelsea instantly looked more vibrant after the changes and took the lead in the 63rd minute.
Willian swung in a teasing cross from the right and Barkley got in front of Evans to guide a clinical finish past Kasper Schmeichel.
“It is a learning experience. I could have taken more off. I am not pulling those out on their own,” Lampard said after hauling off youngsters Mason Mount, Reece James and Billy Gilmour. “They will be top players for this club and have top careers, but if I have to do something in games, I will do it. They will take it on the chin.”
At Bramall Lane, Dani Ceballos fired Arsenal into the semi-finals just as the Blades were smelling blood.
Nicolas Pepe put Mikel Arteta’s men ahead with a first-half penalty after Chris Basham fouled Alexandre Lacazette.
Sheffield United had two goals ruled out for offside by the video assistant referee either side of Pepe’s penalty and Basham also headed a huge chance wide.
The hosts finally got their reward when David McGoldrick equalized with three minutes left, before Emiliano Martinez produced a fine save to deny Billy Sharp a winner.
In the first minute of stoppage-time Arsenal broke and on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Ceballos slotted low past Dean Henderson from a narrow angle.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th