FA Cup: Hats off to Carlos Tevez as Manchester City power past Barnsley to semi-finals

Carlos Tevez's hat-trick helped power Manchester City to a 5-0 win over Barnsley and a semi-final spot in the FA Cup.

Carlos Tevez scored three times as Manchester City left no doubt in a hurry what their plan was against Barnsley.

Manchester City 5 Barnsley 0

Manchester City Tevez 11', 31', 49', Kolarov 28', Silva 64'

Man of the match
Carlos Tevez (Manchester City)

A Carlos Tevez hat-trick helped Manchester City easily cruise past Championship side Barnsley at Etihad Stadium Saturday night to book their place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Barnsley initially set their stall out to defend in numbers, attempting to hit their Premier League rivals on the counter-attack, but David Flitcroft had to rethink his tactics after only 11 inutes when Tevez scored City's opener.

Yaya Toure caught the visitors flat-footed with a precisely measured chip over the top of the defence that David Silva smacked against a post with Tevez on hand to tap home the rebound.

Tevez turned provider for City's second goal as the half-hour mark approached. Following a break up the pitch the Argentine fired in a low cross and Aleksandr Kolarov shot back across the goalkeeper Luke Steele and into the bottom corner on 28 minutes.

The tie was over as a meaningful contest four minutes later when Tevez grabbed his second of the night.

Following a number of passes Silva found space in the penalty area, who in turn found the City striker. Tevez spun his defender and slotted home to keep up his recent impressive goal-scoring form.

He added to his tally four minutes after the break to complete his hat-trick when Samir Nasri found him with a delightful through ball and he steered his shot past Steele to extinguish any lingering hopes Barnsley had of mounting an unlikely comeback.

Silva got in on the act after 64 minutes for the 2011 FA Cup winners when he got the ball over the line at the second time of asking after Steele had plamed away his initial close-range effort.

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