So Leicester City will not be joining Lincoln City in the last eight of the FA Cup, with a new fairytale gathering at frightening pace. Ranieri has come out with his usual post-match army analogies. “Now it’s about the personality of the players,” he says. “We’re in a battle and I need soldiers with heart, desire in every match.” To make matters worse, Ranieri confirmed January signing Molla Wagué, making his first start for the Foxes, dislocated his shoulder on his debut.
Anyway, Millwall showed fight aplenty and are building a story of their own, after knocking out a third top-flight team in this competition. Huddersfield got a replay out of Manchester City, Middlesbrough overcame Oxford, eventually, and now it’s over to Wolves, who face Chelsea at Molineux right about now. Thanks for your company, emails and tweets. Bye!
Claudio Ranieri has been speaking too. “Disappointed because we played well first half, but when it went 10 v 11 they played better and deserved to win,” he says of their defeat by Millwall.
Pep Guardiola speaks, after Manchester City’s 0-0 draw at Huddersfield:
Media cram into Huddersfield press room to hear from Guardiola #mcfc pic.twitter.com/FDQD8a9Jf5
— Andy Hampson (@andyhampson) February 18, 2017
The poor run just goes on for Leicester City. They are now without a win in eight games, after defeat by 10-man Millwall. Next up for the Foxes is the small task of facing Sevilla on Wednesday.
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Championship full-time results
Barnsley 0-2 Brighton
Birmingham 1-4 QPR
Burton 2-1 Norwich City
Cardiff 5-0 Rotherham
Ipswich 1-1 Leeds
Nottingham Forest 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Wigan 0-0 Preston
A goal for Gareth Bale! Real Madrid are two goals to the good at home to Espanyol:
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Millwall supporters are on the pitch, in a half-baked pitch invasion. That’s quite the upset, though, despite Leicester’s team selection and Claudio Ranieri’s 10 changes.
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Full-time! Millwall 1-0 Leicester City
They have done it again, and manager Neil Harris punches the air with delight. Millwall have now beaten three Premier League teams: Bournemouth, Watford and Leicester to reach the last eight. Who next?
Full-time! Middlesbrough 3-2 Oxford United
Despite the League One side’s quick-fire double, the Premier League side prevail, thanks to Stuani’s winner four minutes from time.
Full-time! Huddersfield Town 0-0 Manchester City
The Championship side have earned themselves a replay.
Bayern eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig not in action until tomorrow ...
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Neil Harris is dancing on the touchline! Another Cup upset is just moments away now, with the full-back bombing forward and 10-men Millwall might be in the last eight. Where now for Claudio Ranieri (barring Seville next week)?
GOAL! Millwall 1-0 Leicester City (Cummings, 90)
Shaun Cummings with surely what is the winning goal! ...
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Championship score: Cardiff City 5-0 Rotherham United. League Two score: Barnet 1-1 Portsmouth
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GOAL! Middlesbrough 3-2 Oxford United (Stuani, 86)
And the Premier League side are back in front, with the Uruguayan tapping home from Negredo’s cross-cum-shot.
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Toni Martinez, who scored Oxford’s equaliser at Middlesbrough, is hobbling off at the Riverside. He’s got cramp. Conor McAleny is on for the U’s. At Huddersfield, Pep Guardiola’s made a change, replacing Kolarov with Sagna.
Jamie Vardy’s on for Leicester City at the New Den. He replaces Demarai Gray, in Claudio Ranieri’s third and final change. Vardy makes an immediate impact, glancing Albrighton’s cross goalwards but when it falls at the feet of Okazaki, the striker cannot convert from close range. Archer, the Millwall keeper, keeps it out.
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Celtic are still sitting pretty against Motherwell. “Celtic are on course for their 20th (though it feels like their 200th) consecutive league victory as they lead Motherwell 2-0,” emails Simon McMahon.
In true Bayern Munich fashion, they come up with the goods at the last. Although it’s not a winning goal this time. After helping to dismantle Arsenal in midweek, Robert Lewandowski has bagged a 90th-minute equaliser at Hertha Berlin. That’s full-time there and Bayern are eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, with second-place RB Leipzig not in action until tomorrow. Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, eased past Wolfsburg 3-0.
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Brighton are heading top of the Championship! Sam Baldock has a second goal at Barnsley, who have performed remarkably since losing their captain, top-scorer and chief executive last month.
Anything you can do, I can do better, says Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager has just summoned Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane to take off their layers, with their arrival imminent on the field at the, er, John Smith’s Stadium.
A bonkers couple of minutes at the Riverside, where Oxford are suddenly in the ascendency. Oxford knocked out Swansea City last season and they breezed past Newcastle in the last round. There’s just no stopping them in this competition. Elsewhere, Cheltenham are 2-0 up at home to Yeovil and Bolton have a goal back at Bradford.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 2-2 Oxford United (Martinez, 65)
They’ve pulled level! There was just 58 seconds between the two goals and Michael Appleton’s side are more than just back in it now. On-loan West Ham forward Martinez slams home from six yards, just moments after Maguire’s set-piece.
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GOAL! Middlesbrough 2-1 Oxford United (Maguire, 64)
A stunning free-kick from Chris Maguire. The League One side are back in it!
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Elias Kachunga and Nahki Wells are on for Huddersfield against Manchester City. If that does not mean a lot, then that’s the equivalent for Pep Guardiola throwing on an Aguero or two. There have been 64 minutes played at the John Smith’s Stadium and Huddersfield are very much still in this, with the fresh legs of their two top-scorers on now.
Red card for Jake Cooper! Ahmed Musa’s clattered by the Millwall man, and he duly picks up his second yellow. It’s a silly challenge by the Reading loanee and the League One side are down to 10 men against Leicester. There are 38 minutes of normal time to play.
In the Championship, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday have doubled their leads at Nottingham Forest and Birmingham respectively. Oh, and Brighton are in front at Barnsley, courtesy of Sam Baldock’s strike.
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Sergio Agüero’s made a bright start to the second half at Huddersfield. He’s just forced a save out of Joel Coleman after unleashing an effort at goal from distance after something of a jinking run. It’s still 0-0.
And Sheffield United are level at Bramall Lane through who else but Billy Sharp. Elsewhere, Manchester City, Leicester City and Middlesbrough are back out on the pitch for the second half.
An early second-half goal in League One. Scunthorpe have just taken the lead at league leaders Sheffield United through who else but Paddy Madden.
Kevin Gameiro scored a five-minute hat-trick as Atlético Madrid won 4-1 Sporting Gijon earlier on today. Real, meanwhile, are 1-0 up at half-time against Espanyol:
So, both Manchester City and Leicester City have been frustrated in their attempts to open the scoring against lower-league opposition. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, are in cruise control. Pep Guardiola’s side could do with ratcheting it up a gear or two after the break. They host Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday:
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Half-time Championship scores
Barnsley 0-0 Brighton
Birmingham 0-1 QPR
Burton 1-0 Norwich
Cardiff 1-0 Rotherham
Ipswich 1-1 Leeds
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Wigan 0-0 Preston
Half-time FA Cup scores
Huddersfield 0-0 Manchester City
Millwall 0-0 Leicester City
Middlesbrough 2-0 Oxford United
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Leeds have pulled level at Portman Road, thanks to Stuart Dallas’s strike. It’s 1-1 there with three or four minutes to play until half-time. Elsewhere, Ron-Robert Zieler is an unhappy bunny, after on-loan Reading defender Jake Cooper comes crashing in to meet a whipped Millwall corner ball. There’s a moments excitement but that’s about it.
North of the border, Moussa Dembélé has scored again, helping Celtic into a 2-0 lead over Motherwell. James Forrest scored the second at Celtic Park, after Dembélé’s seventh goal in three matches and 27th of the season. Crikey.
Elsewhere, Danny Simpson’s cheering on his Leicester team-mates in the away end at the New Den and Huddersfield continue to cause Manchester City problems, with Van La Parra forcing Bravo into a smart stop.
Fabian Delph, not for the first time in his career has caused a bit of a stir. This time, it’s a not a big-money move to Manchester City but an unforgiving, crunching challenge on Huddersfield forward Colin Quaner. He gets off lightly, though, without even a booking.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 2-0 Oxford United (Gestede, 34)
And it’s some goal too, a wonderful bicycle kick from the striker. Only moments before, Oxford had ball in the net but it’s disallowed for minimal contact between Kane Hemmings and Daniel Ayala. Boro, naturally, go up the other end and have given the League One side a mountain to climb now ...
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Back in the Championship, Sheffield Wednesday lead at Nottingham Forest, courtesy of Almen Abdi.
A busy few minutes in the FA Cup. Huddersfield have just had a goal disallowed for offside against Manchester City. Rajiv Van La Parra seems to be the guilty party, after Phillip Billing helped the ball into the net.
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GOAL! Middlesbrough 1-0 Oxford United (Leadbitter, 26)
Leadbitter converts from the spot. No nonsense.
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Middlesbrough have a penalty! Chris Maguire has clumsily upended Stewart Downing at the Riverside. Leadbitter, who has already rattled the bar to take ...
A fairly low-key start in the FA Cup matches then, barring Lincoln’s earlier heroics. No goals, but the Oxford crossbar was indeed rattled by Middlesbrough’s Grant Leadbitter. Leicester and Manchester City have started well against lower-league opposition. Elsewhere, just look at Burton Albion, who have gone in front at home to Norwich City.
Leicester have had a couple of half-chances at the New Den. Shinji Okazaki looks bright and his glancing header was kept out by Millwall goalkeeper Jordan Archer. Then the mystery man, Bartosz Kapustka, who arrived with so much excitement, fires over the rebound. Elsewhere, QPR lead at Birmingham City through January signing Matt Smith.
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Manchester City have made a steady start in Yorkshire, and the Huddersfield captain Mark Hudson has had to clear Jesus Navas’s 11th-minute effort off the line. Elsewhere, Charlie Wyke’s got his and Bradford’s second of the afternoon against Bolton. Accrington lead Colchester 1-0, and Coventry are in front against Gillingham.
And up at Huddersfield, the Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has been called into action. “Thought you might want to take note that Claudio Bravo has made a save in the 5th minute at Huddersfield,” emails JR. “Some people weren’t sure if he was capable of such a feat but I had confidence in him.”
The big news: the pundit Robbie Savage just branded the pundit Chris Sutton “a clown” on BT Sport.
Freddie Sears, the scorer of the ghost goal has put Ipswich in front against Leeds. Ipswich put in a half-decent performance at Brighton on Tuesday and could upset another promotion hopeful today. Another high-flying team are behind in League One, with Bolton 1-0 down at Bradford.
Adebayo Akinfenwa’s got his 13th goal of the season, with Wycombe 1-0 to the good against Carlisle. Meanwhile, Morecambe are cruising, already at Crawley after doubling their lead in west Sussex. Elsewhere, in the FA Cup, Middlesbrough have hit the bar, after Grant Leadbitter drills an effort goalwards after good work from Viktor Fischer. Both teams have had some early joy at the Riverside.
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Rochdale are in front through Niall Canavan at home to Charlton, and it’s a goal at least for Ed Wood at Spotland, who has been on quite the mission of late:
We have our first goal of the day: Crawley 0-1 Morecambe. Rhys Turner has found the net after three minutes down in League Two.
We’re off and Oxford go close to an early opener! Oxford, amazingly, are yet to concede a goal in this competition so far. On-loan West Ham forward Toni Martinez creates havoc inside the box but he shoots straight at Brad Guzan. He perhaps might have been better off picking out strike-partner Kane Hemmings. A good start, nevertheless.
The universal 3pm kick-off across the country is just a few moments away. In the Bundesliga, around 27 minutes have been played, with Bayern Munich trailing at Hertha Berlin while Dortmund are in front against Wolfsburg.
In other news, Chelsea under-18s have obliterated Brighton 13-0 today. Not bad going. Brighton’s first team are at Barnsley in the Championship this afternoon, with Chris Hughton taking charge of his 100th league game as Seagulls boss:
FULL TIME: #CFCU18 13-0 Brighton. Brown (4), Taylor-Crossdale (3), McCormick (3), Gallagher, St Clair & Dasilva net in a rout for the Blues.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 18, 2017
An email, courtesy of Simon McMahon. “There’s a cup tie in Scotland too today, as Dundee United travel to Dumfries to face Queen of the South in the semi final of the Irn Bru Challenge Cup,” he says. “Champions League it may not be, but hey, a cup final’s a cup final, right? In the Scottish Premiership Celtic, who hit six against Inverness in the Cup last week, are at home to Motherwell, who conceded seven at Aberdeen in midweek. Don’t expect a 0-0 draw. Hearts play relegation threatened Inverness and its Partick v Hamilton and Ross County v St. Johnstone. In the Scottish Championship it’s Dumbarton v Ayr, Morton v Falkirk and Raith v Hibs.”
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Well, in truth I am not sure we can top that. A ruddy marvellous result for non-league Lincoln, gaining a passage into the FA Cup quarter-finals. Anyway, Millwall will be intent on dumping out another Premier League team, with Leicester City on the menu at the New Den. And can in-form Huddersfield, who themselves have made several changes, upset Pep Guardiola’s City?
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Full-time: Burnley 0-1 Lincoln City
Sean Raggett’s header has sealed an unlikely spot in the last eight of the FA Cup.
Manchester City are again without captain Vincent Kompany through injury this afternoon. The defender is not in the travelling squad at Huddersfield but the extent of the injury likely to become clearer once Pep Guardiola has spoken.
Lincoln City have scored at Burnley, with one minute left on the clock ...
Team news news: Sergio Agüero starts for Manchester City at Huddersfield. Pep Guardiola has made eight changes to the City team from Monday’s win over Bournemouth. Joe Lolley, who posted some wonderful tweets on Friday night, starts for the hosts. Elsewhere, Demarai Gray is the only survivor from the Leicester City team that rolled over against Swansea last weekend, with Claudio Ranieri making ten changes.
FA Cup team news!
Millwall v Leicester City
Millwall: Archer, Cummings, Craig, Williams, Onyedinma, Butcher, Webster, Ferguson, Morison, O’Brien, Cooper
Subs: King, Romeo, Hutchinson, Abdou, Worrall, Smith, Gregory
Leicester: Zieler, Amartey, Benalouane, Wagué, Chilwell, Gray, Mendy, King, Musa, Kapustka, Okazaki.
Subs: Hamer, Vardy, Albrighton, Ndidi, Mahrez, Wasilewski, Fuchs
Huddersfield Town v Manchester City
Huddersfield: Coleman, Whitehead, Hudson, Billing, Holmes-Dennis, Cranie, Payne, Van la Parra, Lolley, Quaner, Stankovic
Subs: Ward, Smith, Kachunga, Lowe, Wells, Brown, Booty
Man City: Bravo, Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov, Fernando, Delph, Fernandinho, Nolito, Agüero, Navas
Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Sterling, De Bruyne, Sane, Iheanacho, A Garcia
Middlesbrough v Oxford United
Middlesbrough: Guzan, Chambers, Bernardo, Ayala, Fabio, Clayton, Leadbitter, Traore, Downing, Fischer, Gestede
Subs: Valdes, Gibson, De Roon, Ramirez, Bamford, Stuani, Negredo
Oxford: Eastwood, Dunkley, Nelson, Edwards, Ledson, Lundstram, Johnson, Hall, Maguire, Hemmings, Martinez
Subs: Agboola, Skarz, Sercombe, McAleny, Ruffels, Rothwell, Raglan
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Manchester City, unlike on Monday night at Bournemouth, have arrived in good time at Huddersfield:
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Further afield this afternoon, Real Madrid are in action at home to Espanyol in La Liga. Dortmund tackle Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga while things will surely get tougher for Bayern Munich at Hertha Berlin, with both of those matches kicking off at 2.30pm.
In the Championship, while Huddersfield are away (sort of), Brighton, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday will all play. Norwich City, meanwhile, are in action at Burton Albion.
Now here’s some concrete good old-fashioned news. The Bristol Rovers owner, Wael Al-Qadi, has penned the latest chapter of the Matty Taylor saga, following the striker’s deadline day move to Bristol City. Al-Qadi, prior to Rovers’ match at Port Vale this afternoon, says on local radio that there’s now a “gentleman’s agreement” between the two clubs, meaning no more transfers of senior players between the two sides.
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Before we get going (properly) here, the second half of Burnley v Lincoln City is about to get underway. Join Scott Murray:
Manchester City, meanwhile, face a no nonsense test of their own, in the shape of Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium. There’s unsurprisingly plenty of excitement about City coming to town. And there’s every right for optimism, with the Terriers third in the Championship offing and unbeaten in their past seven home matches. Pep Guardiola’s taken note, too. “Huddersfield are fighting to go to the Premier League,” he said. “I saw the game against Leeds - they are a really good team.”
Claudio Ranieri, speaking in the buildup to Leicester’s trip to the New Den this week, insists he has not been dreaming of sunny Seville in the Champions League but rather the far from straightforward task facing his players this afternoon. “Believe me, I don’t think about Sevilla, I think about Millwall,” he said.
Hopefully his players will be on the same wavelength. His team will doubtless be viewed as a weakened one but it could yet prove to be his strongest eleven. Expect Bartosz Kapustka either way. And although unlikely to play, there’s hope for Jamie Vardy, who scored twice the last time he faced Millwall in November 2013.
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Preamble
There are no non-league teams involved here exactly, with Lincoln already in action at Burnley, but there’s plenty of scope for an upset or three this afternoon. Huddersfield Town, so impressive in the Championship this term under David Wagner, host Manchester City, who need no introduction exactly. The two teams last met 17 years ago, a 1-1 draw in the old second division.
“They are one of the best teams maybe in Europe,” Wagner said. “We are not comparable with Manchester City, I do not know how many steps or level we are behind. I think this is why everybody loves Cup matches.”
Then there’s almighty Millwall at home to, believe it or not, the reigning Premier League champions. Claudio Ranieri has presumably versed his players on how Bournemouth and Watford have already surrendered to Neil Harris’s side in this very competition this season. Perhaps that’s why Ranieri has labelled Millwall as, er, the favourites.
“We have to make it as uncomfortable and difficult as we can,” Harris said. “It’s a great place to play as a player when it’s full. It will be a great atmosphere.”
Plus, Oxford are at Middlesbrough this afternoon, before Wolves at home to Chelsea this evening. On top of all that, there’s Championship, League One and League Two action.
Team news is coming up next!
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