Manchester City fought back from behind courtesy of an excellent second-half performance to beat Bournemouth 2-1 and set up an FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest.
Andoni Iraola’s team started brightly on the south coast and opened the scoring when Matheus Nunes’ horror-pass across the pitch allowed Bournemouth to attack and Justin Kluivert’s effort was bundled in by Evanilson.
City had already squandered a penalty when Erling Haaland was denied from 12 yards by Kepa Arrizabalaga and the striker missed a one-on-one when scampering through on goal.
But the Cherries deserved their lead such was their intensity and tempo. Something needed to change at the break for City and Pep Guardiola called for Nico O’Reilly from his bench to play down the left.
The impact was almost immediate as the substitute drove forward and assisted the equaliser for Haaland, who then limped off on 60 minutes with an ankle issue.
Erling Haaland receives medical treatment after going down with an injury
His replacement Omar Marmoush took just two minutes to give City the lead, squeezing a low shot through the grasps of Kepa, who should have done better.
From then on, it was like watching the Manchester City of old under Guardiola, who strangled possession and saw the game out in confident and classy fashion. Bournemouth, who are now without a win in 90 minutes in six games, simply ran out of steam and didn’t register a single shot in the second half.
More to follow…
