Manchester City can book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals today, if they can beat Championship leaders Burnley at the Etihad. Manchester City can book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals today, if they can beat Championship leaders Burnley at the Etihad.
City welcome Vincent Kompany back to the club, as he brings his Burnley side who are flying high in the second tier. Pep Guardiola had called Kompany a future City manager in the build-up, although the Belgian distanced himself from the role as he insisted he was focused on his job at Turf Moor.
Guardiola could make some changes to the side that thrashed RB Leipzig in the Champions League this week, with the likes of Stefan Ortega, Aymeric Laporte, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez all hopeful of getting back into the starting XI.
If City can win, they will achieve Guardiola's challenge of being alive in all three competitions after the international break, having won in the Premier League last week, and safely got past Leipzig to set up a Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich. Manchester City vs Burnley LIVE: FA Cup team news, line-ups and more today as Vincent Kompany returns City targeting a spot in the semi-finals as Burnley boss returns to face his old club Manchester City welcome back former captain Vincent Kompany who takes charge of Burnley for this evening’s FA Cup quarter-final. Kompany’s men should provide a good test for City as the Clarets have been revived under the Belgian in the Championship this season. They are 13 points clear at the top of the table and have both the best attack and the best defence in the second tier.
Pep Guardiola’s men come in the match in exceptional form. They are unbeaten in nine matches across all competitions and stormed into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 7-0 rout over RB Leipzig in their last outing. Erling Haaland scored five in that match but he is unlikely to start today as City’s squad depth means the likes of Phil Foden, John Stones and Julian Alvarez should feature in the starting line-up.
The last meeting between these teams saw City run out 2-0 winners in April of last year. They enter the tie as firm favourites but will be careful not to underestimate Burnley, with Kompany returning to his old home to try and defeat the team he captained to four Premier League titles and two FA Cup wins. The stakes are high enough in an FA Cup quarter-final, but this is a showdown that once decided the identity of the champions of England. On a tense Monday night back in 1960, Burnley visited Maine Road to face Manchester City in the final game of the First Division season. Harry Potts’ team needed a victory to pip reigning champions Wolverhampton Wanderers to the prize, and deny Stan Cullis’s famous side a title hat-trick. Here’s how that one panned out …
Brian Pilkington put Burnley in the lead after four minutes. Joe Hayes equalised for City soon after, only for 20-year-old reserve winger Trevor Meredith restored the visitors’ advantage on the half hour, battering home a ball that had squirted out of a penalty-box melee. City had their chances to level up again: Denis Law missed a golden chance midway through the second half, while Alan Oakes shot straight at Clarets keeper Adam Blacklaw when one on one right at the very end. But that was that. Burnley were the champions! City finished 16th that season. Times change, huh. City unsurprisingly make seven chances to the XI that started the 7-0 rout of RB Leipzig. Stefan Ortega replaces Ederson in goal, while John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva make way for Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Rico Lewis, Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden. Tuesday night’s five-goal hero Erling Haaland keeps his place, along with the suddenly-back-in-form Kevin De Bruyne. It’s not exactly your typical second-string FA Cup side, is it.
Burnley make three changes to the starting XI named for the 3-1 win at Hull on Wednesday night. Bailey Peacock-Farrell replaces Arijanet Muric in goal, while Ameen Al-Dakhil and Lyle Foster take the places of Hjalmar Ekdal and Ashley Barnes. Having lost their first FA Cup meeting with Burnley in January 1931, Manchester City have won each of their past four against the Clarets in the competition, most recently a 5-0 win in the fourth round in 2018-19. Manchester City have reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in five of their six seasons under Pep Guardiola, failing only in 2017-18. They could become the third team to reach the last four of the competition in five consecutive seasons since the creation of the Football League, after Manchester United (1961-62 to 1965-66) and Arsenal (2000-01 to 2004-05). City's Riyad Mahrez has been involved in eight goals in his past seven FA Cup matches, scoring six and assisting two. The Algerian has also been involved in eight goals in his last eight games against Burnley in all competitions (7 goals, one assist). Find out everything you need to know ahead of our FA Cup quarter-final tie with Championship high-flyers Burnley. WHEN AND WHERE We welcome Vincent Kompany's side to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 18 March, with kick-off scheduled for 17:45 (UK).
The fixture will be broadcast on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website in the UK. dfghj