Bournemouth, March 28 As AFC Bournemouth set their sights on a potential trip to the iconic Wembley Stadium, the venue which hosts the final and semi-finals of the fabled FA Cup, head coach Andoni Iraola has claimed his side wants the spot more than Manchester City who are looking at a eighth consecutive appearance in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Not only are Bournemouth one of the four teams left in the competition that have never won the FA Cup, but they are the only team remaining that have never even reached the semi-final stage of the competition.
Sunday will mark only the third time that the Cherries have played in an FA Cup quarter-final tie. As Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic they were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United in 1957, and they lost 3-0 to Southampton in 2021.
"I think we have a big opportunity this weekend, anyone who steps on the pitch has to be ready to give everything, and even that might not be enough to beat City. The work for everyone is huge, but the chance to play at Wembley - for City it is less important as they play there a lot, but for us it is huge."
Iraola also added that Marcos Senesi could be back with the squad ahead of the all important clash.
Senesi has been out injured since the 4-2 win over Wolves at Molineux but has been back training with his teammates over this international break and while the Argentine has regained fitness in a welcome boost to the Cherries squad, Iraola isn’t sure whether he can complete a 90 minute match just yet.
Iraola not only provided an update on Senesi, but on Julian Araujo and Adam Smith.
“All the players that were with their international teams have come back and trained today.
“We have had a couple of good weeks working well with Marcos and Julián. Adam is starting to do some things so overall we’ve had good news. Marcos definitely cannot play a 90 minute game now but he’s going to be in the squad and he can help us,” he added.
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