Manchester City booked their place in the FA Youth Cup final for a second straight year on Monday night as a 2-2 draw at Arsenal completed a 4-3 aggregate win over the young Gunners.
Arsenal opened the scoring on the night through Chris Willock after just six minutes.
But City responded a quarter of an hour later when Spaniard Brahim Diaz (pictured above) rounded off a fine team move to put City back ahead on aggregate.
Here’s the @MCFC goal that made it 3-2 on aggregate in tonight’s #FAYouthCup semi-final: https://t.co/w8HO0AFlto
— The FA (@FA) April 4, 2016
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The Gunners looked like the better side on the whole, but the scoreline did not reflect that.
In fact, Arsenal were behind on the night by half time.
On 33 minutes, a quickly-taken free kick gave City breathing space.
Manu Garcia won the free kick and played the ball to Rodney Kongolo, who finished well.
GOAL: @Arsenal 1-2 @MCFC (Rodney Kongolo 32)
The visitors act quickly to make it 4-2 on aggregate! #fayouthcup https://t.co/wFapSC0aLp
— The FA (@FA) April 4, 2016
Arsenal set up an exciting finish just after the hour mark thanks to Donyell Malen.
GOAL: @Arsenal 2-2 @MCFC (Donyell Malen 62)
The hosts are back in it! It’s now 3-4 on aggregate. #fayouthcup https://t.co/xAiVQXSXux
— The FA (@FA) April 4, 2016
Malen’s headed goal from a corner, gave the Gunners momentum, but much of that was wiped out when Marc Bola was sent off for a lunge on Kongolo.
City, too, should have ended the game with ten men, but goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw was only shown a yellow card for his late handball, which arguably denied Arsenal a clear goalscoring opportunity.
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