Pep Guardiola admitted his Manchester City side would have found it "almost impossible" to win their FA Cup clash against the Blues if they had conceded, after praising Everton's commitment.
The hosts were solid for the majority of their quarter-final clash against Man City on Saturday evening but eventually goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne late in the game settled a 2-0 win for the visitors.
Guardiola's side now move into the semi final of the competition and are still on course to win a potential quadruple at this late stage of the campaign.
However, the City boss was full of praise for the way the hosts played at Goodison Park and admitted it was one of his side's toughest matches this season.
He told his post-match press conference: "It's the FA Cup away, it's Everton , they had all week to prepare for this game.
"They're so aggressive as a team, they were incredibly committed from the beginning. We knew that Everton would respond really well.
"It's so difficult to attack eight players who are well prepared, defend well, and the pace they have up front with Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin.
"Every throw-in is like a corner, it was a really tough game. This game should be played like we did, with patience and not conceding mistakes. If they had scored a goal it would have been almost impossible to win.
"We knew the team that scored the goal would win the game, fortunately all the players were fantastic - and in the end we found the goal.
"We knew it was one of the toughest games we had to play this season."
