Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City: Bluebirds bow out of FA Cup despite valiant display after Asensio double

Cardiff City exit the FA Cup despite a valiant display at Villa Park, with a second-half Marco Asensio double helping Aston Villa to progress to the quarter-finals.

It was almost a David v Goliath clash in the fifth round and the Bluebirds were brave, structured and frustrated their Champions League opposition on the night. Ethan Horvath had an incredible display between the sticks, while Cardiff's defence was robust and committed throughout.

But two moments of class from the former Real Madrid man and Paris Saint-Germain loanee quashed any cup ambitions for the Bluebirds. Clearly, the league is of utmost importance to Omer Riza, who will doubtless take great pride in how his team fronted up against top-class opponents in the Midlands.

The atmosphere inside Villa Park was pumping when the first whistle blew. Villa are flying this season and Cardiff are scrapping, the trajectories of both teams could not be more different, really.

But it's 11 v 11 in the grand scheme of things and despite the flow of momentum generally tracking in Villa's direction, stoic defending from the visitors kept the game tight.

Marcus Rashford was lively for the hosts, as you'd expect him to be, and he had a right old ding-dong with Perry Ng for much of the game. Debutant Dylan Lawlor also enjoyed a fantastic debut and aided Ng in trying to quieten Rashford, who had the best of Villa's first-half chances.

After the Manchester United loanee saw a 30-yard free-kick saved by Ethan Horvath early on, he grew into the game. Luey Giles was less successful against Leon Bailey on Cardiff's left and in one attack, the winger ghosted past the Bluebirds academy product and stuck a low cross to the far post. Inexplicably, however, Rashford blazed his effort