"He's going to play in the semi-final, for sure," said Pep Guardiola after Nico O'Reilly saved Manchester City's FA Cup skins for the second round in a row.The City manager may have been half-joking - with the words accompanied by a huge smile and laugh - but 20-year-old O'Reilly has certainly added to his growing reputation.

Manchester City is the only thing standing in the way of a soccer fairy tale in the FA Cup. Take away City — the behemoth of the English game over the past decade — and the clubs remaining in the famous old competition heading into this weekend's quarterfinals have not won a major trophy between them this century.

Manchester City are favourites to win this season's FA Cup and salvage something from a troubled season but the seven other clubs left in a wide-open draw may never have a better opportunity to win the trophy.