Pep Guardiola hails his ‘special’ Man City players after beating Newcastle to reach their SIXTH consecutive FA Cup semi-final… as Eddie Howe laments bad luck and insists ‘football gods are working against” his team

Pep Guardiola hailed his “incredible” Manchester City after reaching six consecutive FA Cup semi-finals with a routine 2-0 win over Newcastle.

Bernardo Silva scored two deflected goals in the first half but City controlled the majority, keeping their ambition of a second successive treble alive.

“This team, this club has something special, it’s incredible,” Guardiola said.

“I know we are playing to win the final, but to win it you have to win the previous rounds. We have won four consecutive Carabao Cup finals and now we are in six consecutive FA Cup semi-finals. Run and playing like they did is amazing, congratulations to the team, no one has done that before.

“We played very well, we were very safe with the ball. Mateo (Kovacic), Rodri and Bernardo kept the ball very well. The game was really good. You see us when we come back every three days, three days , three days, three days…’

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Silva is likely to be linked with a move away from the Etihad this summer, but Guardiola added: “Everyone loves him and we want him. It’s really important for him to stay with us.

Man of the match Phil Foden said: “We always talk about winning more trophies. The hunger is still there. We will continue. This is one of the best teams I have ever seen. At this stage of the season, we are going to need everyone.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, meanwhile, lamented the bad luck that led to City’s goals on a night where his side were not disgraced.

“Goals are difficult to take, especially the first one with a big deflection,” he said. “It’s the football gods working against us.

“But I thought the guys gave it their all. I thought we did well and I stuck with that and unsettled them at times. Finally, in the last third, when we had opportunities to hurt them, the quality was not there.

“But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, it happened. This season could have been different, some great moments worked against us.