Man City Knockout Bournemouth To Reach FA Cup Semifinal

Manchester City secured a hard-fought 2-1 comeback victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, booking their spot in the FA Cup semifinals for the seventh consecutive year. 

City had to shrug off the deficit from Bournemouth in the earlier stages to win. Bournemouth was tough on them, taking off guard with Kluivert's strike. Before that, Kepa Arrizabalaga had saved Erling Haaland's penalty. It was almost like it was not going to be the Norwegian forward's day 

 The build-up leading to Evanilson's goal could only pay off as the Cherries had neatly burrowed into City's box and Brooks arrived rightly. With Kluivert's header flicking the ball from the cross to the edge of the cross line, Evanilson arrived just in time to poke it home. 

With Evanilson scoring a stunning goal, the Cherries dealt a significant blow to City's morale, despite dominating possession but struggling to create scoring opportunities. Haaland redeemed himself and leveled for City after halftime. The Norwegian striker reacted quickly to meet Nico O'Reilly's cross with a tap-in that beat Arrizabalaga to the goal. 

After the hour, Omar Marmoush scored the winner after being set up by O'Reilly. He played in Marmoush on the edge of the box, and the Egyptian forward dazzled past two defenders and struck a low-cut shot past Arrizabalaga.

City have now reached the FA Cup semifinal for the 20th time. The victory restored City to winning ways after two back-to-back winless games. 

Overview

In the end, it was a commendable comeback, with goals enough to take the Citizens to the next rounds. Reaching this stage of the FA Cup is crucial for City, who have been struggling to find consistency in the Premier League.

Though the Cherries' shots on target were few, they had formidable attackers like Kluivert to set up a scoring chance. To a great extent, they have Arrizabalaga for the great saves that kept the margin slimmer. 

Ilkay Gundogan was impressive in the midfield and was involved in the build-up leading up to the equalizer. He facilitated the break from O'Reilly. He was prominent in feeding off the balls to the attacking forward. More so, O'Reilly's athleticism was plausible and effectively cracked the Cherries' defense. He was directly involved in both goals scored by City.