Manchester City booked their place into the Emirates FA Cup quarterfinals after a 5-1 replay victory over Huddersfield Town.
Pep Guardiola’s side cruised to a home victory after going down early against the second-tier side. Sergio Aguero’s 35th minute penalty kick goal proved to be the game-winner as the hosts led 3-1 at halftime. Leroy Sane’s 30th minute tap-in drew the Citizens level after Harry Bunn’s opener had the visitors ahead after seven minutes. Pablo Zabaleta tapped in Aguero’s assist in the 38th minute after the Argentine saw his previous effort saved.
Aguero extended the hosts lead to 4-1 in the 73rd minute as he redirected Raheem Sterling’s cross into the top-left corner. Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho netted his first goal since Dec. 26 as he tapped home in second-half stoppage time. Huddersfield keeper Joel Coleman made five saves in the defeat, while Claudio Bravo made a single save.
With the win, Manchester City will travel to face Middlesbrough on March 11 for a quarterfinal tie at the Riverside Stadium.
Elsewhere in Europe, Barcelona cruised to a league win over Sporting Gijon, while Real Madrid fought back for a draw at home. In Germany, Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach advanced to the German DFB Pokal semifinals. In France, Bastia and Nantes shared the points in the only Ligue 1 fixture of the day.
Here is a rundown of all Wednesday’s European action:
GERMAN DFB POKAL
Borussia Monchengladbach booked their place into the German Cup semifinals with a 2-1 road win against Hamburg SV. A pair of second-half penalty kicks saw the visitors up, 2-0, just after the hour mark. Lars Stindl scored the opener with a right-footed effort to the bottom right corner, after Patrick Herrmann drew a foul from Mergim Mavraj. In the 61st minute, Raffael struck home from the spot with a right-footed finish to the top-left corner.
Hamburg pulled a consolation goal back in the 92nd minute as U.S Men’s National Team forard Bobby Wood slid a left-footed effort into the bottom right corner. Rene Adler made two saves for Hamburg, while Yann Sommer was only called into action once in the Gladbach goal.
Reigning cup holders Bayern Munich cruised past Schalke, 3-0, at the Allianz Arena in Wednesday’s late match. Striker Robert Lewandowski led the way for the hosts, netting twice and adding an assist in the first half. His 29th minute long-range effort capped a dominant first half for Bayern, who led 3-0 at the break. Thiago’s 16th minute header, from Lewandowski’s assist made it 2-0, after the striker opened the scoring three minutes in. Franck Ribery also added two assists in the win for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Bayern held the edge in possession while Schalke failed to record a shot-on-goal. The Bundesliga leaders join Borussia Monchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt in the semifinals, while a fourth team will come from the Sportfreunde Lotte-Borussia Dortmund match, which had to be postponed Tuesday due to heavy snowfall.
Hamburg SV 1 – Borussia Monchengladbach 2
Bayern Munich 3 – Schalke 0
SPANISH LA LIGA
Barcelona cruised to a 6-1 home victory against Sporting Gijon thanks to five different goalscorers getting on the goalsheet. A 11th minute own-goal off of Gijon’s Juan Rodriguez proved to be the winner early in the match. Leo Messi’s ninth minute header had Barcelona up 1-0 before the own-goal by Rodriguez doubled the hosts lead. Carlos Castro pulled Gijon to within one after finishing from close range in the 21st minute. Luis Suarez made it 3-1 in the 27th, netting his 19th league goal of the season.
Substitute Paco Alcacer finished off Messi’s assist early in the second half for a 4-1 lead before Neymar made it 5-1 from a beautiful free-kick. Ivan Rakitic added a late one for Barcelona in the 87th minute to stamp the final score at 6-1. Barcelona jump to first place, while Gijon stumble to 19th.
Real Madrid fought back for a 3-3 home draw at the Santiago Bernabeu against Las Palmas in Wednesday’s late match. An 89th minute equalizer from Cristiano Ronaldo drew Los Blancos after being down 3-1 for most of the second-half. Ronaldo’s 86th minute penalty made it 3-2 before heading home the tying goal three minutes later. Kevin-Prince Boateng’s long-range effort had Las Palmas up, 3-1, after 59 minutes after Jonathan Vieira’s 56th minute penalty gave Palmas their first lead in the match.
Madrid were reduced to 10-men after Gareth Bale earned two yellow cards after a foul and violent conduct early in the second half. Tana had drawn Palmas level two minutes after Isco gave Real Madrid the 1-0 lead after eight minutes. Keylor Navas made five saves for Real Madrid, while Javier Varas made four saves for the visitors. The draw for Zinedine Zidane’s side drop them to second in the table, while Barcelona jump to first by a point. Las Palmas remain in 12th after picking up their first point since Jan. 30.
Elsewhere, Villarreal pulled closer to a Champions League spot with a 4-1 road win at Osasuna. A 27th minute penalty kick goal from Roberto Soldado proved to be the winner for Villarreal at Reyno de Navarra. Roberto Soriano’s opener after two minutes has the visitors up 1-0 early before Soldado doubled their advantage from the spot. Roberto Torres cut the lead for Osasuna in the 64th minute, finishing from the penalty spot after Sergio Leon drew a foul inside the box.
Substitute Santos Borre capped off a fast-break in the 74th minute to make to make it 3-1 before scoring his second tally of the match four minutes later. Their second league win out of their last three see Villarreal only three points back from fifth-place Real Sociedad. Osasuna have now lost five league fixtures in-a-row and are in last place sitting nine points from safety.
Here are all of Wednesday’s La Liga scores:
Osasuna 1 – Villarreal 4
Barcelona 6 – Sporting Gijon 1
Celta Vigo 2 – Espanyol 2
Real Madrid 3 – Las Palmas 3
Granada 2 – Alaves 1
COPPA ITALIA
Lazio took a huge first step to booking their spot in the Coppa Italia final after a 2-0 first leg win against rivals Roma. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s 29th minute goal proved to be the winner as the midfielder rifled home Felipe Anderson’s assist to the top-left corner. Mohamed Salah came closest to equalizing for Roma at the hour mark, after ripping a left-footed effort off the left post. Ciro Immobile’s 78th minute tap-in added some insurance for Simone Inzaghi’s side who will face Roma on April 5th for the second leg.
The loss was Roma’s second defeat out of their last eight matches in all competitions. Lazio has now won four of their last five fixtures in all competitions, and will be the favorite to advance after a positive result in the first leg.
Lazio 2 – Roma 0
FRENCH LIGUE 1
In the only Ligue 1 fixture of the day, Nantes fought back from a 2-0 deficit to draw, 2-2, with Bastia at the Stade Armand-Cesari-Furiani. Despite being reduced to 10-men after just 10 minutes, Bastia opened the scoring in the 69th minute as Gael Danic’s third goal of the season made it 1-0. Prince Oniangue’s third goal of the season, seven minutes later doubled the hosts lead to 2-0. Emiliano Sala cut the lead to 2-1 for Nantes after finishing off Leo Dubois’ cross inside the box.
Lucas Lima missed an 88th minute penalty-kick for Nantes which kept the score at 2-1. Diego Carlos’ second goal of the season capped a great comeback for Nantes in the 92nd minute, as the defender tapped home Sala’s helper. Other than their two goals scored, Bastia failed to record a single shot-on-goal, while Nantes created only three chances on target. Nantes climb to 14th after remaining unbeaten in consecutive matches, while Bastia remain in 19th after failing to record a win since Dec. 17.