Omar Marmoush scored twice as Manchester City’s second string cruised past Newcastle and into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 3-1 win.
The Magpies led through Harvey Barnes’ cultured 18th-minute finish in front of watching England boss Thomas Tuchel, but Savinho levelled before the break and Marmoush struck twice after it to secure City a 19th win in 21 attempts in the competition over the last four years.
That was all the more impressive as boss Pep Guardiola made 10 changes to the side which drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League in midweek – star striker Erling Haaland did not even make the matchday squad – with one eye on Wednesday night’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid in the Spanish capital.
By contrast, the Magpies will welcome Barcelona to Tyneside 24 hours earlier licking their wounds after a fourth successive defeat by City this season.
City’s victory in front of a crowd of 51,109 was every bit as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests and meant they have dumped Eddie Howe’s men out of both domestic cup competitions this season having ended their reign as Carabao Cup holders in the semi-finals.
In a bright start by the home side, Anthony Elanga tested goalkeeper James Trafford with a dipping ninth-minute attempt from distance and Barnes saw his stabbed attempt deflected wide after Will Osula had chased down Sandro Tonali’s ball over the top in company with John Stones.
However, it took a goal-line clearance from Nico Gonzalez to deny Nick Woltemade the opening goal after Trafford had palmed Osula’s initial header from an 11th-minute Kieran Trippier corner unconvincingly back into the danger area.
The Magpies did go ahead with 18 minutes gone when, after Tonali had split the City defence with an inch-perfect pass, Barnes raced away, steadied himself and curled a right-foot shot across the helpless Trafford and into the top corner.
But Aaron Ramsdale had to save from the impressive Savinho at his near post after the winger had collected Elanga’s misplaced 29th-minute pass on halfway and shown Lewis Hall a clean pair of heels, and was relieved when Tijjani Reijnders deflected Jeremy Doku’s pass straight into his waiting arms five minutes later.
City were back in it six minutes before the break when Doku was allowed to drill a cross across the six-yard box and the ball hit Savinho and ricocheted over the line.
They might have gone ahead shortly afterwards when Reijnders fired wastefully wide after Malick Thiaw failed to cut out Savinho’s pass.
Newcastle were in disarray at the back as Guardiola’s men piled on the pressure and the half-time whistle came as a merciful release.
The respite proved temporary as the visitors took the lead within two minutes of the restart when Marmoush was given time and space to control Matheus Nunes’ cross and scored from close range.
Ramsdale had to parry Marmoush’s 60th-minute strike with Hall clearing Reijnders’ follow-up off the line, before Ramsdale turned away Nico O’Reilly’s header from the resulting corner.
City’s third goal did arrive with 25 minutes remaining when Nunes picked out Marmoush and he controlled before blasting emphatically past Ramsdale.
