Silva Double Earns Man City Win

Bernardo Silva scored two goals and Phil Foden another as Manchester City strolled to a 3-0 win at home against second-tier Birmingham City in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.

The victory meant City have won each of their last seven FA Cup home games, their best home winning run in the competition in 75 years.

“Our first objective is done. Some young players were involved and we have qualified for the next round,” manager Pep Guardiola said.

“If you follow the trajectory of our team since I arrived, we didn’t drop one game. That’s why we are in a fourth Carabao (League) Cup final in a row, FA Cup we won two seasons ago and a semi-final last season.”

Portuguese midfielder Silva scored his first goal at the Etihad Stadium in over a year when he fired the ball into the top corner in the eighth minute after Birmingham defender George Friend failed to clear.

Silva doubled City’s lead seven minutes later, finishing off a brilliant team move with a simple tap-in. The 26-year-old pounced on a cut-back from Kevin De Bruyne after Riyad Mahrez found the Belgian with a clever pass inside the box.

Foden made it 3-0 before the break with a low strike from outside the box which sailed into the bottom corner after Mahrez set up him.

Mahrez thought he had added City’s fourth around the hour-mark when he slotted in at the back post, but the goal was disallowed after the Algerian was ruled to have been offside.

Reuters