London (AFP)
Manchester City, the “defending champion,” broke its knot at the new stadium of Tottenham Hotspur, when it defeated the London team 1-0, and reached the round of 16 in the FA Cup.
City owes its victory to its Dutch international defender, Nathan Ake, who scored the only goal in the 88th minute, taking advantage of a rebound from Italian international goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, following a corner kick, to which the Belgian international “substitute” Kevin De Bruyne delivered.
Tottenham protested against the winning goal on the grounds that their goalkeeper was harassed by City's Portuguese international defender Ruben Diaz, 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, which is second on the list of the best winners of the title (12 titles, two titles 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, followed 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 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, replacing 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, and the “City” players shot. 84 times on Tottenham's goal, including 22 between the three sticks.
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