Manchester City's James Milner celebrates after scoring during their FA Cup third round soccer match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, northern England, January 4, 2015.
Manchester City's James Milner celebrates after scoring during their FA Cup third round soccer match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, northern England, January 4, 2015. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Manchester City had previously demolished Sheffield on Wednesday, 7-0 in a Capital One Cup tie back in September. This time around, in a third round FA Cup tie, City had to wait for the final stages of the match to score the winner.

Manchester City were unconvincing in the first half and went down to a 14 minute goal from Wednesday striker Nuhiu. In the first hour of the match City failed to register a single shot on the target. This led the manager Manuel Pellegrini to bring in the changes by introducing playmakers David Silva and Samir Nasri. It worked like a miracle and birthday boy James Milner, playing as a striker scored almost immediately. With nearly all the designated strikers in the club out injured, Milner marked his 29 birthday in style by scoring a second, the winner, in the 90 minute of the match.

"One of the most pleasing thing about the way we have played in the last month is we have continued winning, even without any recognized strikers. Playing the way we have, we've still been able to score goals", the Pellegrini said making no effort to hide his joy in winning the match.

Serbian international Matija Nastasic is wanted by Schalke for about £8M (AU $1 M approx.) and is out of favour under the current management. It is learnt that Manchester City are willing to let go of their player for around £10M (AU $20M approx.)

In news published by Daily Star, Schalke have been told that City must have first options on Arsenal target Julian Draxler in exchange of the above deal. The 21 year old German winger won the FIFA World Cup this year and is rated about £25M (AU $50 M approx.) by the German club.

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