Struggling Middlesbrough take positives from FA Cup quarter-final berth

Middlesbrough have struggled in league-play, but were looking to pull another upset on the Citizens in this competition.

City recorded an emphatic 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the quarter-final game at the Riverside Stadium.

City took an early lead when Silva took advantage of slack defending to stab in Pablo Zabaleta’s cross on the right wing.

Man City: Bravo 5, Zabaleta 7, Clichy 6, Stones 6, Otamendi 6, Toure 6, Sane 7, De Bruyne 7, Sterling 7, Silva 7, Agüero 7. Hart said he respected the manager’s decision to replace him. The United States worldwide plunged to keep out Silva’s shot and then sprung to his right to turn a long-range effort from Sane around the post.

Jonathan is ESPN FC’s Manchester City correspondent.

Silva put a dominant City ahead after only three minutes before Aguero got the second after 67 minutes. It was the striker’s 24th goal in all competitions, and his fourth in this year’s F.A. Cup competition.

Middlesbrough could only register two efforts on target in the opening 45 minutes, as the score remained 1-0 to the visitors at the break.

Pep Guardiola’s side had numerous chances to add more gloss to the result but were thwarted by a combination of sloppy finishing and brilliant goalkeeping from Guzan.

The game will also be shown on BT Sport 2 and in 4K UHD, as well as the BT Sport app via our acclaimed enhanced video player.

Hart played one match under former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach Guardiola at City – a Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest in August – before being allowed to move to Italy. “I’m in good form at the minute, I feel confident going into every match”. The first goal was important but it was down to how we approached the game. We know we have to be positive and believe in what we’re doing. Maybe you need that to improve, to get better.

“From the beginning we showed to the people that we want to travel to London to Wembley for the semifinal because how we started was top”.

“We discussed the fantastic opportunity we have to make it to Wembley by winning on Saturday”. I like to work with these guys.