Houllier defends team selection

City booked a home quarter-final against Reading thanks to goals from Yaya Toure, Mario Balotelli and David Silva. Houllier made life difficult for himself by leaving the likes of Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and Marc Albrighton on the bench. Asked his thinking behind his eight team changes, Houllier told ITV1: "I knew that you would ask that. "We started the team with Emile Heskey and Gaby Agbonlahor and Nathan Delfouneso, who is an under-21 international, so that attack was practically three internationals. "We have quality and we use it. "I don't think Ashley Young or Stuart Downing would have avoided the first goal, which was very unfortunate. "After being down to 1-0 it was difficult." He added: "We have to acknowledge that we were beaten by a team that is better than ours at the moment. "I don't think we had a bad game. "I admit that we didn't hurt them enough (but) the score is very flattering for them." City defender Pablo Zabaleta was delighted his side managed to keep their cup run going. "We are very happy," he said. "We knew before the game we have a great chance in the FA Cup to go back to Wembley after a long time. "We have great quality in the team. We have players that can score at any time and that is very important in a long season."