{"id":9728,"date":"2026-05-17T14:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9728"},"modified":"2026-05-17T14:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:46:20","slug":"life-changing-signing-a-big-game-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9728","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Life changing signing&#8221;, &#8220;A big game player&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5168128\" data-slug-id=\"2782914\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Manchester City fans have hailed forward Antoine Semenyo after his decisive touch led them to FA Cup glory against Chelsea. The Ghana international scored the only goal of the game as the Cityzens claimed a narrow 1-0 win in the FA Cup final. <\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side were aiming to complete a domestic cup double for the second time, having defeated Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final in March. The Spanish tactician named Semenyo in the starting XI for the ninth successive game,  with the 26-year-old having joined the club in January. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Antoine Semenyo scored his tenth goal since his switch from Bournemouth to settle a keenly-contested tie between the rivals at Wembley. The forward provided the moment of brilliance, leading the fans to appreciate him for his performance against Chelsea. Some of them took to X to praise him after the game. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>One fan hailed him as a life-changing signing, praising his availability and durability for the side. <\/p>\n<p>Another fan pointed out that the Ghanaian is proving to be a big game player. <\/p>\n<p>A fan simply admitted that the signings of Semenyo and Marc Guehi saved Manchester City&#8217;s season. <\/p>\n<p>Another fan named the former Bournemouth man as their hero, praising him for his moment of brilliance. <\/p>\n<p>A fan pointed out that the club&#8217;s decision to sign Semenyo was a genius one due to his impact since joining. <\/p>\n<p>Antoine Semenyo was the hero for the Cityzens as Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side picked up a 20th major title since his arrival at the club ten years ago. He became the first manager in the history of English football to win both domestic cups in two separate seasons, having done so in 2019. <\/p>\n<h2>Manchester City edge Chelsea to claim FA Cup crown <\/h2>\n<p>Manchester City claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Chelsea to emerge as the 2025-26 FA Cup winners. The Cityzens condemned the Blues to a fourth successive FA Cup final defeat, making them the first side since Leicester City between 1949 and 1969 to lose four straight finals in the competition. <\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side dominated the opening exchanges before their opponents grew into the game. They were denied an opener by the assistant referee&#8217;s flag in the first period as Chelsea struggled to create anything of note. <\/p>\n<p>The moment of brilliance came in the 72nd minute as Antoine Semenyo delicately flicked a low cross from Erling Haaland into the far corner for the game&#8217;s only goal. Manchester City held on to pick up a second piece of silverware this season, keeping their hopes of a domestic treble alive. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sulayman Salahudeen<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City fans have hailed forward Antoine Semenyo after his decisive touch led them to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9728","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\/9728","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=9728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}