Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City

Marco Asensio bagged a brace as Aston Villa booked their place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2015 with a deserved 2-0 triumph over Cardiff City.

The Spaniard finally broke the visitors’ resistance in the 68^th minute, his third goal since joining the club courtesy of a third assist from fellow loanee Marcus Rashford.

Asensio subsequently doubled his and Villa’s tally with another left-footed finish from 12 yards in the latter stages.

It was just reward for the hosts’ dominance having enjoyed 68 per cent possession and a total of 25 attempts on goal during the fifth-round tie at Villa Park.

Rashford, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and John McGinn were all denied by a superb performance from Bluebirds ‘keeper Ethan Horvath and a resilient City rearguard.

Villa, having extended their unbeaten home run in all competitions to 15 matches stretching back to October, will now take their place in Sunday’s draw for the last eight of the competition.

Both sets of supporters came together to pay tribute to Peter Whittingham ahead of kick-off, following his passing five years ago next month at the age of just 35, with a video montage on the big screen and a special banner raised in the North Stand.

In the first meeting between the two sides since 2018, Villa went into the cup tie having won the last seven home encounters against Cardiff and unbeaten in B6 against the Welsh side in 15 matches stretching back to 1955.

Asensio, Rashford, Bailey and Ian Maatsen all came into Villa’s starting XI, as Unai Emery made four changes from Tuesday’s Premier League defeat at Crystal Palace.

Cardiff, meanwhile, included former Villans Anwar El Ghazi and Callum Robinson in their line-up.

Rashford and captain McGinn both tested Horvath from distance early on, before the City ‘keeper spread himself well to thwart Watkins when played through by Asensio.

Aaron Ramsey produced a last-ditch block to deny Youri Tielemans as Villa continued to turn the screw, dominating play largely in the final third of the pitch.

Bailey stung the palms of Horvath following a sublime touch from Asensio, before Rashford fired off target from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Horvath again came to Cardiff’s rescue late in the first half to deny Watkins once more from close range, ensuring the cup tie remained goalless at the interval.

The second period started in much the same fashion as the first, Horvath getting down low to produce a strong one-handed save and keep out McGinn.

Rashford was next to be denied by the Bluebirds stopper from 25 yards as Watkins then curled narrowly wide.

Emi Martínez had to be alert to make his first save of the evening in the 66^th minute, keeping out substitute Yousef Salech from Perry Ng’s ball into the box.

And the saved proved crucial as Villa opened the scoring just moments later, Rashford diverting Tielemans’ clipped ball across the area for Asensio to finish from 12 yards.

Rashford saw his goalbound effort blocked by sub Joel Bagan but the Championship side were powerless to stop Asensio sweeping home Bailey’s low cross in the 80^th minute and add a crucial second.

Manager Emery turned to Lucas Digne, Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers off the bench.

And the latter almost added a third late on but fired off target as Villa went on to build on wins over Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United to secure their spot in the quarter-finals.