Sergio Aguero scored two goals in second half to help Manchester City reach FA Cup semi-final with a 3-2 victory over Swansea in south Wales.
The Blues were trailing by half time 2-0 as their by former youth player helped the Championship side to a deserved lead.
Fabian Delph had another FA Cup shocker – after his red card contributed to City’s demise at Wigan last season, this time he gave away a penalty.
His ability to draw in defenders handed Bernardo Silva a goal and then Aguero bagged the equaliser from the spot – although it will go down as an own goal after hitting the goalkeeper – before diving in to head home the winner in front of the 3,300 ecstatic travelling fans.
If anyone was ever in doubt about Pep Guardiola’s serious designs on winning the Quadruple, they were dispelled when the teamsheet dropped.
Phil Foden would normally have been a shoo-in for a game like this, especially given the fact he was City’s leading scorer in the competition going into the game after starring roles at Oxford and Newport.
The fact he was named on the bench, with Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and David Silva asked to go one more time before the international break, tells its own story.
The manager did make changes, but bringing in the Brazil number nine, the £60million club record and England international Delph should not really be a “weakening”.
It proved to be exactly that as Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez were ineffective and Delph a liability – the latter two were hauled off and Jesus stayed on to conjure up an incredible miss.
City arrived in south Wales expecting that they would have to ride out another storm, just as they did down the road at Newport in the last round.
Leroy Sane twisted and accelerated his way past the full back to create half a yard and lashed in a shot which keeper Kris Nordfeldt could only parry into the air, and Riyad Mahrez headed the rebound narrowly wide of the post.
Another Sane break ended with him drifting his cross to the far post where Bernardo’s volley bounced up off the turf at just the right height for the keeper to parry away.
But Swansea showed more ambition than most teams do against City and when Connor Roberts cleverly turned inside Delph, the makeshift left back clumsily lunged in and tripped him. Matt Grimes did the rest from the penalty spot and City were behind after 20 minutes.
Ten minutes later they were in dreamland as a sweeping move had Nicolas Otamendi at sixes and sevens and when the ball was passed into the path of Celina, the former Blue sent his shot arcing over Ederson.
City hit back and when David Silva’s shot skidded off the greasy surface, Nordfeldt just about got enough of a hand on it to spoon it away to safety.
Then Bernardo skipped to the byline and teed up Silva again for what seemed a certain goal – but his close-range shot cannoned off a defender and span just past the post.
Guardiola ran out of patience as City failed to test the home keeper early in the second half, sending on Aleks Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero in quick succession.
Aguero drew in three defenders, took a shot before flipping the rebound to Bernardo, who made use of the space by firing a shot into the far corner.
Now City had a firm foothold, and when Sterling scooted past Cameron Carter-Vickers and felt contact, he went down to earn a penalty.
Aguero crashed his spot kick against the post but it bounced off the unlucky keeper and squirted into the far side of the net to put the Blues level.
It was one-way traffic now, and with Swansea crumbling the third goal seemed inevitable.
And, equally inevitably, it was Aguero who grabbed it, diving to head home Bernardo’s cross at the near post, and surviving a hint of offside in the process.
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