WEMBLEY: Manchester City Down Chelsea To Reach FA Cup Final

Bernardo Silva made amends for his midweek penalty miss by scoring the winner in a tense FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. The Portuguese midfielder struck with six minutes of normal time remaining to avoid another match going to extra time and possible penalties to send the Blues back to Wembley next month.

In an evenly matched FA Cup tie, City survived a number of scares to see off a spirited challenge by the West London side, with Stefan Ortega making a double save and striker Nicolas Jackson unable to find the finishing touch to his play. The Blues also survived a couple of penalty appeals as they reached their second consecutive Cup Final.

Before the match, manager Pep Guardiola named striker Erling Haaland as a doubt for the match after the Norwegian was withdrawn in the penalty defeat to Real Madrid. Indeed, City’s top scorer sat out the match, with fatigue cited as the main reason and the Blues missed his height and presence up front.

By comparison, Chelsea had many opportunities long before Silva’s goal to put the London side on a return path to Wembley, but a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping led to City’s first clean sheet since the goalless draw with Arsenal at the end of March. Even the in-form ex-Blue Cole Palmer couldn’t find a way past his former teammates as Chelsea once more failed at Wembley.

Both sides had chances in the first half, with Phil Foden taking a wonderful path from Kevin de Bruyne. The England man rounded the keeper but, with a difficult angle, could only put the ball back into the middle where no one in sky blue was waiting. At the other end, Jackson found himself in a similar situation but, after rounding Ortega, couldn’t find a shooting opportunity and the chance went begging.

Palmer got his chance against his former club, but couldn’t get his shot past Ortega as Chelsea finished the half strongly.

Jackson was denied twice by Ortega in the second half, the first with keeper getting quickly down to produce a one-handed save, then stopped a header from the striker seconds later to prevent a Chelsea goal.

The other Blues felt aggrieved in the second half as they were denied what they considered a clear penalty. Palmer’s free-kick appeared to strike Jack Grealish on the hand, but it was deemed by the referee and VAR not to be handball. Shortly after, Jackson went down under a challenge by Kyle Walker and Chelsea fans were left frustrated for a second time as they failed to be awarded a spot-kick.

Foden was denied by the Chelsea keeper before Guardiola made the change that proved to win the match. Jeremy Doku replaced Grealish, who went on to cause the Chelsea defence a whole heap of problems. His pace saw the Belgian storm into the penalty area, only to see his left-foot shot saved by the legs of Petrovic in the Chelsea goal.

Doku again got behind the Chelsea defence but his cross fell to de Bruyne, via a lay-off by Julian Alvarez, only for the City midfielder to fire wide. That was a major warning for Chelsea and it was one they failed to heed.

The two Belgians combined, with Doku releasing de Bruyne inside the penalty area. De Bruyne’s cross into the six yard box was deflected out by the keeper, but only as far as Silva, who steadied himself before firing into the bottom corner.

It was just what the fans, Guardiola and more importantly, Silva needed after the pain and anguish of Wednesday night. It was the goal that took City back to Wembley and a match against United or Coventry City in the final, with 8 minutes of injury time failing to save Chelsea.

Guardiola Bemoans Fixture Scheduling

After the match, manager Pep Guardiola took the opportunity to have a pop at the scheduling of the match. After a gruelling 120 minutes plus penalties, City then had to travel to London to face a London side, just 72 hours after the Madrid game. Meanwhile, Chelsea played on Monday, giving them much more of a rest period and a shorter journey time to the stadium.

“It’s unacceptable to let us play today,” said the boss. “It’s impossible, for the health of the players. It’s not normal. One hundred and twenty minutes, the emotions of Madrid, the way we lose, honestly. I know this country is special with the FA Cup, but it’s for the health of the players.”

Guardiola asked why the Blues couldn’t have played on Sunday, given the fact that Coventry and United didn’t have a match in midweek. “I don’t understand how we survived today,” continued the Catalan boss. “People cannot imagine the punch in our face, the way we were out.

“Why they don’t give us one more day for the health of the players to arrive on Sunday? Coventry, Chelsea, Manchester United, they didn’t play Champions League or Europa League in midweek.

“The day after [Real we just had] recovery then yesterday, we just say ‘hi’ and you can’t prepare anything. Four hours from Manchester to here and play the game in these conditions.”

However, Guardiola was full of praise for his players after reaching a second successive FA Cup Final. “We are very pleased and these players showed who they are. At the end of the season, we will come back here to play the final of the FA Cup.”

City next go to Brighton, followed by a trip to Nottingham Forest three days later as they continue their hunt for a fourth successive Premier League title.

Final Score: Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea