Guardiola happy to see Man City brush aside Wednesday
Liam Blackburn
March 5, 2020 06:34 MYT
March 5, 2020 06:34 MYT
Pep Guardiola was pleased FA Cup holders Manchester City enjoyed a trouble-free outing to reach the quarter-finals courtesy of a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Sergio Aguero's second-half strike, his 20th goal in the competition, was enough to earn City a fifth-round victory over Championship opponents at Hillsborough.
Lower-league opposition have caused City problems in the FA Cup in previous years, with Wigan Athletic knocking Guardiola's side out at this stage two seasons ago and Huddersfield Town forcing a fifth-round replay in 2017.
Yet Wednesday never looked like upsetting the odds as they failed to register a single shot on target across the 90 minutes.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Guardiola said: "We were out at Wigan two seasons ago. I remember Swansea last season in extra time and the last moments. We knew it.
15 - Since Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City ahead of the 2016-17 season, the Spaniard has overseen 15 victories in FA Cup matches (D1 L2); at least five more wins than any other manager over this period. Advance. pic.twitter.com/AY3jgmQ9Ur — OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 4, 2020
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Aguero's goal earned City their fifth successive win in all competitions as they built on last Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first-leg victory at Real Madrid and Sunday's EFL Cup final triumph over Aston Villa.
Given City were celebrating lifting their first trophy of the season only three days earlier, Guardiola was delighted they got the job done with ease in the FA Cup.
"It doesn't matter what level, we were incredibly solid," added Guardiola, whose side have been drawn away at Newcastle United in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
"It's tough to defend [against] 10 players there, we didn't find more passes inside but we created enough chances to win. Two [efforts hit the] crossbar but especially the chances we had in the second half.
"It was a tough week for us, in terms of we talk about this before, we spend a lot of mental energy but the players again were ready to fight and play as good as possible and qualify for the next round."