Manchester City win FA Cup downing Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley

Today saw Pep Guardiola and Manchester City win further glory, securing the FA Cup for the third time under his reign.

The blue side of Manchester has now won two domestic trophies this season, having won the Carabao Cup by beating Arsenal in March.

Chelsea’s caretaker coach Calum McFarlane has nothing to be ashamed about, and his team made Manchester City work for its victory.

Both Bernardo Silva and John Stones, who will be leaving Manchester City at the end of this season and will be missed. They have been fantastic servants of the club, stalwarts who could be depended upon to put in great performances every time they took to the field. 

In this final, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush put in good performances for Manchester City, Marc Guehi being outstanding in defence. Rayan Cherki came on after half-time and made a significant contribution.

Chelsea had opportunities and may feel hard done by the referee. As the game wore on, Chelsea made a number of appeals for penalties, all of them were rebuffed. 

Cole Palmer made a number of tantalising runs into the box and was one of Chelsea’s best players today.

But it was a sublime piece of skill by Antoine Semenyo that decided this game. Receiving a pass from Haaland, he flicked the ball between his legs beyond the reach of Sanchez into the goal. This has got to be one of the best goals of the season and must be savoured again and again. Absolutely delightful!

This is the 20th trophy win by Pep Guardiola as Manchester City Manager. If Manchester City wins this season’s EPL Trophy, which looks to be heading into Arsenal’s hands, it would be its seventh EPL trophy. He is considered the greatest manager in English football club history after conquering in Spain with Barcelona (2008-2012) and Germany with Bayern Munich (2013-2016).

Manchester City have two more games to play in the EPL. They need to win them both, and Arsenal slip up to do the domestic treble this season. At Christmas, that seemed impossible, but Manchester City has turned it on late into the season and is breathing down Arsenal’s neck. 

Pep Guardiola has one year left on his contract, and some believe this will be the last time we see him winning a trophy in England. That is a bit premature. He will be in the reckoning next season, even more so if he pulls off the treble. He won’t stumble like Arne Slot. 

After the game, Guardiola said, “The game started really good. I think we played well in the first 30-35 minutes, arriving at the final pass. Chelsea were better in the second half. Even when we had the first clear chance with Antoine, they were better. The moment the game turned, they were more aggressive. They pushed us, had a lot of corners. We did find the goal, and we became better. Of course, they had a chance with the throw-in. They changed to a 5-4 system, but we were able to find our wingers,  the pockets and transitions.

“This has happened many times this season, where in the final moment, our final pass, we were not good enough. Today we were really pleased. This trophy is really cool, really special.

On that wonderful goal, the Manchester City boss said: “ Antoine can play in three positions. I think as a striker, he is really good. Look at the last game with an incredible assist from Phil Foes, his finishing and sense for goal. Today he scored a really great goal; the skill, the technique.”