BIRMINGHAM, England :Aston Villa newcomer Marco Asensio struck twice in the second half to lead the Premier League team to a 2-0 victory over second-tier Cardiff City on Friday and into the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 10 years.
Villa thoroughly dominated the Welsh side whose defence and goalkeeper Ethan Horvath held strong until Asensio finally broke the deadlock in the 68th minute. Marcus Rashford latched onto Youri Tielemans’ ball over the top before cutting it back for Asensio, who swept into the bottom corner.
Asensio, who joined Villa earlier this month from Paris St Germain, completed his double in the 80th minute when he guided the ball into the bottom corner from Leon Bailey’s cross.
The Spaniard, who has scored four goals in two starts for the West Midlands team, received a standing ovation when he was substituted off soon after.
“We are really happy,” Asensio told ITV. “It was not an easy game. We knew it was a difficult game. Very happy for the goals, for the win. We’re in the next round, that’s the most important.”
Villa last reached the quarter-finals in the 2014-15 campaign en route to the final where they lost 4-0 to Arsenal.
The home side peppered Horvath with 10 shots on target to the visitors’ one, including several spurned chances from Rashford, who joined Villa from Manchester United earlier this month.
Rashford’s best opportunity was a blistering shot from 25 yards out in the second half that was well saved by a diving Horvath.
Leon Bailey had a terrific first-half chance but Horvath leapt to tip his powerful volley over the crossbar.
Cardiff finally put Villa’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to work midway through the second half when Perry Ng whipped in a cross from the right that Yousef Salech poked towards the goal.
Cardiff, who are 29 places below Villa on England’s football pyramid, were not able to field a full-strength squad on Friday, manager Omer Riza said, because of important upcoming league games in their Championship relegation battle. They are just three places and six points above the Championship’s bottom three, with 12 league games remaining.
