{"id":9142,"date":"2026-05-16T14:53:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9142"},"modified":"2026-05-16T14:53:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:53:42","slug":"marc-guehi-continues-whirlwind-fa-cup-journey-against-club-where-it-all-began-manchester-city-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9142","title":{"rendered":"Marc Gu\u00e9hi continues whirlwind FA Cup journey against club where it all began | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"


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M<\/span>arc Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s whirlwind 12 months in the FA Cup: captaining Crystal Palace to glory at Wembley last season, experiencing the competition\u2019s greatest shock via the holders\u2019 third-round elimination at sixth-tier Macclesfield and, on Saturday, aiming to claim the trophy again when Manchester City face Chelsea.<\/p>\n

In a story-rich competition the defender\u2019s is one of the more intriguing, particularly as Palace\u2019s triumph was their first trophy and City, who he joined nine days after the Macclesfield reverse, were their scalps in the final, beaten 1-0 by Eberechi Eze\u2019s 16th-minute strike.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cI feel like my football life is crazy. There\u2019s no consistency to it. It\u2019s very unpredictable. And it\u2019s fun, interesting. I\u2019m glad to be given the opportunity to play in such a prestigious final again. And for this club, I know how much it means to them to win trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On 10 January, Palace were dumped out 2-1 by Macclesfield. Afterwards, despite bitter disappointment, Gu\u00e9hi went to the supporters who had journeyed from south London to Cheshire for the tie.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old says: \u201cI felt like I owed the fans for their voices to be heard because they\u2019re such a big part of football. In that moment, it was low for them, but that\u2019s just another part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gu\u00e9hi moved to City for a bargain \u00a320m, Pep Guardiola strengthening his squad with one of England\u2019s first-choice centre-backs. There were quips from his new colleagues regarding Palace\u2019s Cup win. \u201cI\u2019m not going to share what they were, but yeah, there were a couple,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 4 May, and Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s mood was far darker at Hill Dickinson Stadium. With City beating Everton 1-0 after 68 minutes, Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s intended backpass for Gianluigi Donnarumma went to Thierno Barry, who equalised.<\/p>\n

This presaged a 15-minute collapse that featured Everton moving 3-1 ahead. By the end, City had salvaged a 3-3 draw, but it was firmly advantage Arsenal in the title race. If Arsenal become champions Gu\u00e9hi will have to steel himself for endless repeats of his mistake being billed (however unfairly) as the moment that turned the championship.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Marc Gu\u00e9hi helped Crystal Palace to their first trophy with a 1-0 win against Manchester City in last season\u2019s FA Cup final. <\/span> Photograph: Getty Images\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regarding the error, Gu\u00e9hi is grateful for Guardiola\u2019s and his teammates\u2019 support. He says: \u201cIt\u2019s inevitable that someone\u2019s going to make a mistake. So, I think having that togetherness manifesting is really important in any situation \u2013 it\u2019s a really good trait of the group. You get to see people\u2019s real characters and relationships when times are most difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s character, alongside his stellar talent, has driven his rise, after rejection at Chelsea. After progressing through the west London club\u2019s ranks, Gu\u00e9hi made two League Cup starts in the autumn of 2019 \u2013 against Grimsby and Manchester United \u2013 before being loaned to Swansea in January 2020 and the following season. An \u00a318m transfer to Palace followed in July 2021.<\/p>\n

Gu\u00e9hi is asked whether the Cup final is a chance to show Chelsea they were wrong about him. He says: \u201cThat\u2019s not my mentality. I completely understand people that have that thought process but I\u2019ve got nothing but gratitude towards Chelsea. Going there from such a young age, I am super grateful to the coaches, and the players I played with. And, to have been given the opportunity to play for the club, a couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gu\u00e9hi was ineligible for City\u2019s 2-0 Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal because he had played for Palace in the competition, a rule that no longer applies in the FA Cup. Witnessing the triumph gave him a greater understanding of the culture Guardiola has created.<\/p>\n

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He says: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it made me hungrier \u2013 the hunger is always there. It just makes me appreciate the art of winning a bit more, understanding what it really takes to maintain that level and keep winning and finding new ways to win. It was great to see what the guys were able to achieve against such a formidable opponent in Arsenal. When you\u2019re not in those moments often, it\u2019s hard to understand. So, taking a back seat was probably the best thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardiola may depart in the summer and the captain, Bernardo Silva, and John Stones are leaving. Gu\u00e9hi, in his modest way, is reluctant to say whether he will become one of the leaders.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Macclesfield pulled off their momentous upset over Crystal Palace days before Marc Gu\u00e9hi (on his knees) departed to Manchester City. <\/span> Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He says: \u201cYou\u2019d have to ask the other guys. It\u2019s always important to, I\u2019d say, have that understanding of how other people see you as well, which then helps you step into different roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is far surer of a bright future for City owing to the wave of players who have joined or emerged (in Nico O\u2019Reilly\u2019s case) since January 2025, the others being Donnarumma, Omar Marmoush, Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonz\u00e1lez, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan A\u00eft-Nouri.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cThere\u2019s so much we can all improve on. We\u2019re all, I think, trying to learn from the older guys, from the guys that have been there and done it again and again. Whether we go on and do it, it\u2019s up to us. We\u2019ve got to make that decision every day we come into training.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s whirlwind 12 months in the FA Cup: captaining Crystal Palace to glory at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}