LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester City qualified for the quarter-finals of the English Football League (FAF) Cup on Thursday with a 2-0 win at home to Fulham.
City have joined Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough and Porto Albion in the quarterfinals. The eighth place was postponed after the Lester City match with Southampton was postponed this week after the first owner, Vichai Srivadanabraba, His helicopter near the club stadium last Saturday.
A number of key players in the city, including Spanish David Silva and Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero, missed the match while Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruen took the lead five minutes into the game, apparently suffering from a knee injury.
The Belgian international returned to the club on October 20 only, after missing for about two months because of a knee injury also suffered in mid-August.
In the third game of the season, Spain's Diaz emerged from the squad of his compatriot Pep Guardiola and was the first chance for City in the 14th minute after a pass from German Leroy Sanet. The Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Rico was able to tackle her and returned to De Bruin, .
After 4 minutes, Diaz opened the scoring with a shot from inside the area and rebounded from Fulham's Serbian striker Alexander Mitrovic and changed its way and settled to the left of his goalkeeper.
City continued to press Fulham, and Brazilian striker Danilo rebounded from the post in the 25th minute, while Sane's shot shot in the 33rd minute and the goalkeeper was shot in front of him.
Brazil's Gabriel Jesús ended the first half with a dribble and a shot near the left post of the Riquo goal.
In the second half, Diaz scored the goal with a shot in the roof of the goal, followed by a free kick from Jesús on the other end of the net after a neat pass from Sane.
Guardiola Diaz, who replaced Riad Mehrez in his 77th place, was replaced by Claudio Gomez, who replaced De Bruyn, who appeared to have been injured following contact with Cameroonian André-Franck Zambo-Anguissa.
Manchester City were the champions of the standings and the defending champions won the competition last season by beating Arsenal 3-0 in the final.
