Updated 18:55, 16 May 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nChelsea players react after Man City take the lead at Wembley(Image: 2026 The FA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/p>\n
Antoine Semenyo fired Manchester City to a 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Pep Guardiola’s side cruised past the Blues at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon, winning the 145th edition of the oldest national football competition in the world.<\/p>\n
Erling Haaland squandered the chance to break the deadlock inside the opening half an hour when he dispossessed Reece James inside the Chelsea box. He blasted the ball wide, gifting the Blues the opportunity to launch a counter-attack, which quickly fizzled out.<\/p>\n
The Manchester City striker thought he had put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead a few moments later, tapping the ball into an open net, but Matheus Nunes was flagged offside in the build-up. Then, shortly before the break, Chelsea were denied a spot-kick when Joao Pedro collided with Abdukodir Khusanov.<\/p>\n
The Manchester City defender was not adjudged to have committed a foul by the Video Assistant Referee. Pep Guardiola’s side began the second half in the ascendancy, with Antoine Semenyo heading the ball over from close range.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! <\/strong>Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page<\/strong><\/p>\nAs the final quarter of an hour approached, the Manchester City winger finally got himself on the scoresheet, beating Robert Sanchez with a lovely backheel from close range. Chelsea failed to find a way past the Premier League title contenders, and lost their seven successive final at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n
So, with that being said, football.london<\/strong> has taken a look at five particular key moments during the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n\n
\n
Up to 70% off Chelsea kits and merch<\/p>\n
\n
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Various Prices<\/p>\n
Fanatics<\/p>\n
Buy Now on Fanatics<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Fanatics has slashed the price of Chelsea kits and merch with up to 70% off select items.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Chelsea stars fail audition for Alonso role<\/strong><\/h3>\nMcFarlane only made two changes to the starting lineup that faced Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League last weekend, with Robert Sanchez and Reece James replacing Filip Jorgensen and Andrey Santos, respectively. The interim Chelsea boss deployed a back-five, again, with the Blues captain in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, it’s formation that Xabi Alonso, who’s recently been linked with the head coach vacancy at Stamford Bridge, famously used during his spell at Bayer Leverkusen. football.london<\/strong> understands Chelsea are hopeful of confirming the 44-year-old as their new manager after agreeing terms on a deal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nXabi Alonso has also been linked with Chelsea(Image: J\u00f6rg Student, Bayer 04 Leverkusen via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/div>\n
The Blues are convinced that Alonso, who’s been without a job since January after leaving Real Madrid, is the ideal candidate to take the reins at Stamford Bridge. It’s understood that Chelsea are keen to wrap up his appointment in the days following the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n
So, the defeat at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon was somewhat of an audition for the prospective Blues gaffer. Chelsea had no problem progressing the ball up the pitch, but they lacked guile in the final third. Something to work on under Alonso, perhaps.<\/p>\n
Sanchez almost channels inner Cech<\/strong><\/h3>\nRobert Sanchez raised eyebrows when he walked out to warm up in a skullcap. Hoping to channel his inner Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper, who suffered a head injury following a collision with Morgan Gibbs-White during the defeat to Nottingham Forest earlier this month, rocked the protective headwear during the showpiece event.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nRobert Sanchez of Chelsea warming up ahead of the Emirates FA Cup Final(Image: 2026 Marc Atkins)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/div>\n
He hardly had to move a muscle until the end of the second half, when he stood strong to deny Haaland from a tight angle. Sanchez couldn’t quite emulate the legendary Chelsea shot-stopper like he would’ve hoped, when Manchester City finally broke the deadlock shortly before the final quarter-hour mark.<\/p>\n
He did, in fairness, full off a save that Cech would’ve been proud, bailing out his teammates to deny Rayan Cherki from close range. Sanchez often faces the brunt of criticism when the Blues lose, but he was let down at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n
McFarlane decision backfires<\/strong><\/h3>\nMcFarlane waited until Manchester City went in front to make a change. In the 10 minutes or so that followed Antoine Semenyo’s opener, only then did the interim Chelsea boss reshuffle the pack, bringing on Pedro Neto and Liam Delap for Reece James and Marc Cucurella.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nCalum McFarlane, Interim Manager of Chelsea(Image: 2026 The FA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/div>\n
Then, in the final minutes of the clash, Alejandro Garnacho came on for Joao Pedro. The flurry of substitutions came a little too late, and Pep Guardiola’s side ended up cruising to victory at Wembley.<\/p>\n
Although the gulf in experience on the touchline stood out like a sore thumb, McFarlane shouldn’t take any blame. For somebody who was only appointed as the under-21s head coach in the summer, he’s done a relatively good job of picking up the pieces.<\/p>\n
It’s BlueCo who needs to take a look at themselves. They underestimated the challenge at hand.<\/p>\n
Afraid to face the music<\/strong><\/h3>\nAt the end of the game, an invisible wall appeared on the edge of the 18-yard box, separating the Chelsea players and what was left of the fans behind the goal. Enzo Fernandez was the first to applaud the travelling supporters, and he was later followed by Robert Sanchez and Levi Colwill.<\/p>\n
Still, they and their teammates seemed to be afraid to face the music, solemnly standing between the halfway line and the box. Naturally, they were devastated, but they can’t have been surprised with the result after delivering a performance that lacked guile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea have now lost seven successive finals at Wembley Stadium following their defeat to Manchester…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9655","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\/9655","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=9655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}