Herd, 21, had previously made five brief substitute appearances this season, but was handed his first run from the start on Wednesday as boss Gerard Houllier opted to make eight changes to the Villa side which defeated Blackburn 4-1 on the weekend.

The Perth-born youngster started at full-back but the Villans were trailing by two goals within the first half hour after strikes from Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli.

Herd was involved in a controversial incident in the second half when Balotelli was booked for elbowing him in the face.

David Silva added City's third on 70 minutes after Herd had tried to head clear Pablo Zabaleta' cross but it only went as far as the Spaniard who made no mistake.

In Turkey's Kupasi quarter finals, Mile Jedinak scored as Genclerbirligi progressed to the final four after a 2-1 win over Bucaspor, which sealed a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Jedinak, who put in a full shift in the win, got on the end of a high diagonal ball as he ghosted into the box before poking in on 62 minutes to make it 2-1.

Elsewhere in Turkey's Kupasi, Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill played a full game as Galatasaray drew 0-0 with Gaziantepspor, to bow out 3-2 on aggregate.

In Holland's KNVB Beker semi finals, Michael Zullo and Tommy Oar were unused substitutes as FC Utrecht missed out in a spot in the final after a 1-0 loss to FC Twente.

In the Greek Cup semi finals, Nathan Burns started and played 65 minutes as AEK Athens drew 0-0 with PAOK in their first leg.

In Scotland's Premier League, Danny Invincibile started and played 79 minutes as St Johnstone drew 0-0 with Aberdeen.