Man City player ratings vs Chelsea: Sublime Antoine Semenyo secures FA Cup glory for Pep Guardiola & Co. despite another final to forget for Omar Marmoush
Manchester City secured their second trophy of the season as Antoine Semenyo’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 win over Chelsea in Saturday’s FA Cup final. Pep Guardiola’s side edged what was a pretty lifeless affair at Wembley, and Semenyo’s sublime flick, scored with 18 minutes left on the clock, proved to be the difference as City won the competition for the eighth time in their history.
With Chelsea happy to sit back and City devoid of much creativity, the first half proved to be low on excitement and chances. Erling Haaland had a goal ruled out after Matheus Nunes was adjudged to be offside in the build-up, before Haaland fired straight at Robert Sanchez after being played in behind by Marc Guehi shortly before half-time.
Semenyo had a great chance to open the scoring early in the second half, but he headed over at the back post from Nico O’Reilly’s cross. At the other end, meanwhile, Rodri did well to get back and nod Moises Caicedo’s goal-bound header away with James Trafford stranded.
The game began to open up midway through the second period, and City took advantage. Haaland traded passes with Bernardo Silva before crossing first time for Semenyo to send a sublime flick past Sanchez and into the bottom corner. Enzo Fernandez almost provided an instant equaliser, however, as he hooked a volley narrowly over the crossbar following a long throw.
Matheus Nunes and Rayan Cherki were both denied by Sanchez as City looked for a second goal to make sure of victory, but it wasn’t required as Guardiola secured the 20th trophy of his City coaching career.
GOAL rates City’s players from Wembley Stadium…
