Manchester City were tired, leggy and emotionally drained after penalty heartbreak in Madrid three days earlier as their Champions League defence ended, but survived a series of promising goalscoring chances before Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute winner secured a hard-fought win over Chelsea, punching their ticket back into the FA Cup final for a third time in the last six seasons.
sky Blues win ugly, before Guardiola bemoans schedule
- Timely turnaround: Silva’s eleventh goal this season, three days after missing a penalty against Real, helped Guardiola’s men edge gritty win
- Silva’s post-match interview with BBC: “I’m very happy after a very frustrating week for all of us, me personally. The good thing in football, if you’re at City, you’ve got a game every three days… have a chance to put things right, we tried to do that even though we were very tired.”
- Guardiola on an unnecessarily quick turnaround between fixtures, three days after defeat in Madrid: “It’s unacceptable, impossible for the health of the players… it’s not normal. Emotion, the way we lost, everything, I know it [the FA Cup] is special for this country but I don’t understand how we do it. Do you think it [complaining publicly or formally] will change anything?”
- City will play local rivals Manchester United or Championship side Coventry in Wembley final next month, May 25 – 3:30pm kick-off, Sunday
Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea
Silva 84′
IF there was a moment typifying this gritty clash, it came after 13 minutes for Manchester City. Marc Cucurella headed the ball to safety and his trailing teammates would’ve been relieved for that intervention, having seen how easily Kevin de Bruyne split their backline open with an incisive pass just prior. Foreshadowing, anyone?
The Belgian creative midfielder fed Phil Foden, who rounded goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic but was forced wider than he would’ve liked in the process and floated a hopeful effort across goal to be cleared away. He could’ve shot first-time, too.
For all the criticism levelled at Erling Haaland, omitted from the matchday squad here with a muscular problem, he too would have relished those opportunities to combine with de Bruyne. Thankfully for their sanity, they won regardless.
On an evening where they were often frustrated, this was an early and timely reminder at how quickly City could strike, even though the headlines will predictably follow Nicolas Jackson’s succession of squandered opportunities in the final third.
Stefan Ortega denied his tame effort six minutes in, before gladly thwarting him again twice in quick succession five minutes into the second-half, as the £30m summer signing from Villarreal continues dividing opinion among critics and supporters alike.
Constantly getting into dangerous positions and making intelligent runs is one thing, having that finishing instinct and assured decision-making when the moment comes is another thing entirely – see Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez – though it’ll be interesting to see how Chelsea adapt his role long-term, because something has to change.
They made a double substitution shortly after City’s 84th-minute opener, with build-up play resembling training ground exercises and being bundled home by a player who hadn’t done much of note but popped up at the right time to allay fears of extra-time for the second time in a whirlwind week across all competitions.
Nathan Ake found Manuel Akanji, who fed second-half substitute Jeremy Doku in what resembled a triangular passing sequence high up the pitch. Doku spotted de Bruyne’s run, evading Enzo Fernandez’s attentions, before his low cross was inadvertently pushed into Silva’s path and the Portuguese sidefooted home.
England fullback Ben Chilwell took two touches too many down the left-hand side and failed to release an unmarked Raheem Sterling in the area for a great chance, just moments after the pair’s introduction in the final minutes of normal time.
Ruben Dias’ goal-saving block did just the trick, on at half-time for the oft injured John Stones in another piece of unwelcome news for Gareth Southgate’s England to ponder as his EURO 2024 plans draw ever closer with the season nearing its apex.
If that jarring sequence wasn’t bad enough, £62m summer signing Mykhailo Mudryk had an opportunity deep into stoppage-time to fizz a dangerous ball into the box after Kyle Walker needlessly barged into him to concede a free-kick.
Rather than producing a good cross though, the Ukrainian overcooked the delivery and it evaded everyone to float harmlessly wide and out for a corner, their final chance of a game they really should’ve won comfortably given the circumstances.
Cameras panned to Mauricio Pochettino on the touchline with his arms folded, and the subsequent facial expression that followed said all you needed to know.
Much has been said about the Argentine underperforming at the helm like Graham Potter, but when his players are faring like this in big games, problems clearly run deeper than just pure managerial nous. Recruitment issues have been a long-running theme, though their need for a bonafide No. 9 has become too big to ignore.
Although BBC’s four-man panel – Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard and Micah Richards – tried their best to look on the bright side when Pep Guardiola joined them post-match and immediately criticised the scheduling given their European exertions in midweek, the Catalan’s complaints are nothing new.
City’s fixtures
April: Brighton (25th), Nottingham Forest (28th) — May: Wolves (4th), Fulham (11th), Tottenham (14th), West Ham (19th), FA Cup final on 25th
Chelsea
April: Arsenal (23rd), Aston Villa (27th) — May: Tottenham (2nd), West Ham (5th), Forest (11th), Brighton (15th) and Bournemouth (19th)
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via BBC TV broadcast
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