Ruthless Chelsea rip Manchester City kids to shreds

Manchester City named six teenagers and three debutants for their FA Cup fifth round tie at Stamford Bridge – and Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea showed no mercy as they stormed into the last eight with a 5-1 win.

Chelsea eased into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup by beating a youthful Manchester City side 5-1 at Stamford Bridge.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini pledged to play with a scratch side in light of the fifth-round match being moved to Sunday for television coverage, with an eye on Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Dynamo Kiev and a lengthy injury list.

The Chilean stuck to his word as he named five full debutants, although one of those – French striker David Faupala – seemed to care little for his manager’s assertion that the tie was “not a real game” when he promptly cancelled out Diego Costa’s 35th-minute opener.

But Chelsea’s class and experience told during the early stages of the second half, with Willian and Gary Cahill scoring in quick succession as the below-par performances of experienced City goalkeeper Willy Caballero and right-back Pablo Zabaleta did little to help the cause of their younger colleagues.

Eden Hazard rifled number four from a free-kick and Oscar had a penalty saved before fellow substitute Bertrand Traore completed the scoring as Chelsea maintained boss Guus Hiddink’s hopes of lifting the trophy he won in 2009 with a 13th domestic match unbeaten.

Tosin Adarabioyo, Aleix Garcia and Faupala made maiden senior appearances among six teenage starters for City, while a far more seasoned Chelsea were unchanged from their 2-1 midweek defeat at Paris Saint-Germain.

Faupala was the first City rookie to settle, working his way past Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic to draw a near-post save from Thibaut Courtois.

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