Video: Glenn Whelan lucky to escape after poor challenge on Javi Garcia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4oU-nrM_ac

A late goal from Pablo Zabaleta knocked Stoke out of the FA Cup today, but Manchester City’s Javi Garcia will not forget the game in a hurry.

By Declan Whooley

The game was pretty dour in the extreme and another 90 minutes of similar football would not have made for great viewing, but the Argentinian saved the day with a late winner against a Stoke team that were lucky not to have gone down to 10 men.

Glenn Whelan is a combative midfielder at the best of times, but was incredibly fortunate to get away with this lunge on Garcia at the Britannia, with Howard Webb not even brandishing a yellow card for the Irish international.

It was at best reckless, but somehow managed to avoid getting into Webb’s notebook. In the end, he, nor his team-mates could prevent City from progressing to the next round of the cup.