FA CUP
KOSTAS BRATSOS 20.04.2024 | 21:13
Manchester City’s players celebrate a goal against Chelsea for the 2023-2024 FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, London | Saturday, April 20, 2024 © 2024/IAN WALTON/AP IMAGES
Manchester City overcame elimination from the Champions League and subdued Chelsea thanks to a late goal from Bernardo Silva to reach the FA Cup final.
Manchester City recovered from their Champions League quarter-final exit and set their sights on domestic titles, starting with the FA Cup. With the 1-0 against Chelsea, they qualified for the final for the 13th time in their history, looking for their 8th victory.
The “citizens” lined up without Erling Haaland, but with several key weapons and took control of the match early on, without managing to make a difference. Mauricio Pochettino’s players bloodlessly neutralized most of the dangers and even had enough chances to strike on the counter.
Nicholas Jackson, who was at the top of the Blues’ attack, had a bad day and none of the times he went against Stefan Ortega was able to threaten. Sometimes he did not fail to make the final. However, the Londoners could have had a clearer chance if the referee had awarded a penalty for a Cole Palmer foul that ended up in the hands of Jack Grealish, who was on the wall.
When the latter went off injured in the 2nd half and was replaced by Jeremy Doku, City unsettled the Chelsea defense even more, until the 84th minute and Bernardo Silva’s goal, which partially atone for the missed penalty against Real.
- MANCHESTER CITY: Ortega, Walker, Stones (46′ Dias), Akanji, Ake, Silva, Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne, Grealish (65′ Docu), Alvarez (88′ Bob)
- CHELSEA: Petrovic, Gusto (79′ Disassi), Tsaloba, Silva, Cucurella (88′ Chilwell), Caicedo, Fernandes (88′ Sterling), Gallagher, Palmer, Madueke (79′ Mudrick), Jackson
The results of the semi-finals
- Manchester City – Chelsea 1-0 (84′ Silva)
- 21/04 17:30 Coventry – Manchester United
Final schedule (Wembley)
- 25/05 Manchester City – Coventry or Manchester United