LONDON — Manchester City made it a domestic cup double by adding to their Carabao Cup success with victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
Antoine Semenyo produced a stunning back-heel finish midway through the second half to decide a tight game as City won 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. It’s a 20th trophy for Pep Guardiola in English football, in what could still turn out to be his last season at the Etihad Stadium.
City were the better team in the first half, but Chelsea had a spell of dominance themselves early in the second half.
It was a game of few clear-cut chances, and Semenyo provided the one moment of real attacking quality. Bernardo Silva picked up the ball outside the Chelsea penalty area and gave Erling Haaland the opportunity to cross, before Semenyo, the January signing from AFC Bournemouth, flicked his finish beyond Robert Sánchez and into the far corner.
City, who lost the previous two FA Cup finals to Manchester United and Crystal Palace, still have the chance to add the Premier League title this season if they can overhaul Arsenal‘s lead at the top in the final two games. — Rob Dawson
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Semenyo goal elevates dour cup final
This FA Cup final will quickly be forgotten as a spectacle, but Antoine Semenyo’s winning goal will be replayed for years to come as one of the greatest cup final goals.
The City forward has had a big impact on Pep Guardiola’s side since arriving at the Etihad in a £62.5 million transfer from Bournemouth in January, scoring nine goals for the Blues before the Wembley clash against Chelsea. But none have been more important, or spectacular, than his second-half strike that settled a dreary cup final in City’s favor.
Haaland’s awareness saw the City striker pull the ball back for Semenyo in the Chelsea six-yard box. The pass seemed to be heading behind Semenyo, but the 26-year-old showed incredible instinct to direct a back-heeled flick into the far corner of Robert Sanchez’s goal and give City the lead.
It was arguably the one piece of quality in the whole game, but if you are going to win a cup final, why not do it spectacularly?
Wembley has witnessed some great goals in FA Cup finals from players such as Eric Cantona, Roberto Di Matteo and Youri Tielemans, but Semenyo’s is right up there with the best of them. — Mark Ogden
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Guardiola gets his lineup wrong, then very right
It was a surprise when the teams were announced an hour before kickoff and Rayan Cherki was on the bench.
Cherki has been one of City’s best players in the second half of the season. And even though his replacement in the XI, Omar Marmoush, scored against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, most City fans were expecting the Frenchman to start at Wembley. He didn’t, and in his place, Marmoush managed just 10 touches during an anonymous first-half display.
Manchester City score late in the second half for the 1-0 win over Chelsea and the FA Cup title.
In fairness to Guardiola, he rectified his mistake at the earliest possible opportunity. Marmoush was substituted at halftime and City immediately looked more threatening with Cherki on the pitch. It was his ability to find space between the lines which started the move which led to Semenyo’s goal. Cherki almost scored himself as well, but was denied by a strong hand from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
City fans are used to Guardiola springing team selection surprises in big games. He has become more predictable in the past few years, but there was another curveball against Chelsea. In the end, Cherki showed why he deserved to start after all. — Dawson
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Chelsea face European blowout after defeat
Chelsea would have secured a route into Europe next season by qualifying for the Europa League had they beaten City at Wembley. But the two-time UEFA Champions League winners are now facing a battle in the final week of the season to sneak into Europe through the Premier League.
As it stands, the top five will qualify for the Champions League, but City’s cup double — Pep Guardiola’s side beat Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final in March — means that the Europa League and Conference League spots assigned to those trophies will now be allocated on the basis of league position.
Sixth and seventh place will go into the Europa League, and eighth place will be the Conference League.
Heading into the final two games of the season, Chelsea are in ninth position, so they will need to win both of their remaining fixtures (against Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland) and hope other results go in their favor.
If Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth, the Premier League will get an additional Champions League spot, but lose a Europa League qualification place. So Chelsea need to finish in the top eight or miss out on Europe altogether. — Ogden
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McFarlane comes out with some credit
It won’t feel like it after losing a cup final, but Calum McFarlane has done himself no harm with how he has approached his interim spell in charge at Chelsea.
He won plaudits for the draw he earned at Man City in January after taking over from Enzo Maresca. His postmatch news conference at the Etihad in which he detailed exactly how he did it was particularly enlightening.
He couldn’t match the result at Wembley, but for a long time he looked to have Guardiola struggling for answers. Chelsea were able to negate the quality of Jérémy Doku on the left by asking Reece James to race over from midfield to help Malo Gusto.
McFarlane picked a deliberately narrow team with wingers left on the bench and wing backs providing the width. For the most part, Chelsea dominated the center of the pitch. In the end, the game plan was only undone by a moment of genius from Semenyo.
For all Chelsea’s problems this season, McFarlane has shown that there’s a team in there somewhere. And at 24 years and 301 days, Chelsea’s starters had the youngest average age of any FA Cup final starting XI since Nottingham Forest in 1991 (23 years, 309 days). That can only be a positive for whoever comes in next — whether it’s Xabi Alonso or someone else. — Dawson
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Haaland still can’t score at Wembley
Haaland has broken countless goal-scoring records with Manchester City, but it seems that cup finals have become his kryptonite. This was the Norway international’s 10th major cup final with City, and he hasn’t scored in any of them.
He hasn’t scored in a Cup final since netting for Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final against RB Leipzig in 2021, and just to add to his frustration, this was Haaland’s ninth appearance at Wembley in finals and semifinals in which he has failed to score.
He had chances to end his barren run by scoring against Chelsea, but he blazed wide when he burst into the penalty area after a first-half slip by Reece James, then had a goal ruled out for offside moments later.
Haaland can at least claim to have registered the assist for Semenyo’s decisive goal, but it remains an anomaly that such a prolific goal scorer hasn’t been able to hit the back of the net in a cup final for City. — Ogden
