“On the other hand, young people must take over and I must retreat a bit”.
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This will see the Etihad Stadium side field a host of fringe and young players against Chelsea, which could well see them eliminated from the cup competition.
“When a player comes into the Premier League, saying “I don’t want to go on loan, I want to make my progress here”, and when they get their first goal – and it was a attractive goal, a typical striker’s goal which I like very much – it was a tremendous joy for him”.
And Chelsea were back on course to extend that run in the 48th minute when Brazil winger Willian launched an incisive raid, picking out Hazard before racing past City’s statuesque defence to meet the Belgian’s return pass with an angled finish into the far corner.
However, two minutes later the scores were level again as David Faupala netted the equaliser.
At first glance, it appears Pellegrini has handed Chelsea a gift-wrapped place in the quarter-finals because Hiddink, whose side played their Champions League last 16 first leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week, can afford to send out a stronger team this weekend.
But the lead only lasted two minutes. Eden Hazard’s delicate through ball found Willian, who scored his 10th goal of the season with a well-placed shot down to the right of Caballero in Man City’s goal.
On Saturday, West Brom midfielder Chris Brunt was struck on his left cheek by a coin thrown from the away end as his team lost 3-1 at Reading in round five.
The youthful Manchester City side responded well.
However, Manchester City’s defence continued to struggle without the towering figure of Vincent Kompany.
The home fans then wailed for a penalty minutes later after Costa was brought down in the box by Martin Demichelis, but referee Andre Mariner was unmoved. Oscar’s poor penalty was easily saved by Caballero.
Pedro and Costa were taken off shortly afterwards to rousing ovations with Oscar and Bertrand Traore coming on.
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Traore’s goal was the final meaningful moment in a match that was, despite a testing first half, a comfortable victory for Chelsea.
