{"id":9768,"date":"2026-05-17T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9768"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:44:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:44:00","slug":"antoine-semenyos-moment-of-genius-sinks-chelsea-to-seal-fa-cup-glory-for-man-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9768","title":{"rendered":"Antoine Semenyo\u2019s moment of genius sinks Chelsea to seal FA Cup glory for Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Manchester City lifted the FA Cup for the first time since 2023 after Antoine Semenyo\u2019s moment of brilliance secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Semenyo produced the one piece of quality required to separate the sides and hand Pep Guardiola\u2019s men their second trophy of the season, following their earlier League Cup triumph.<\/p>\n

The decisive moment arrived with 16 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Erling Braut Haaland, who had endured a frustrating evening with little service in attack, drove into space before cutting the ball back towards Semenyo inside the penalty area.<\/p>\n

The Ghana international then improvised brilliantly, flicking a first-time finish beyond Robert Sanchez and into the far corner to spark celebrations among the City supporters.<\/p>\n

It was a finish worthy of winning any final. Until that point, chances had been limited in a cagey contest dominated more by tactical caution than attacking quality.<\/p>\n

City controlled possession for much of the first half but struggled to create clear openings despite enjoying long spells on the ball.<\/p>\n

Semenyo looked the most threatening player during the opening stages, having a couple of efforts blocked before later dragging another attempt wide after cutting inside.<\/p>\n

Chelsea gradually grew into the contest and enjoyed encouraging moments without seriously testing James Trafford.<\/p>\n

Joao Pedro fired harmlessly wide after slipping under pressure, while Wesley Fofana later failed to direct a header on target during Chelsea\u2019s best spell after the interval.<\/p>\n

City thought they had taken the lead before half-time when Haaland converted Matheus Nunes\u2019 low cross, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Jose<\/div>\n
Trending<\/span><\/p>\n
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Guardiola introduced Rayan Cherki at the break in an attempt to inject more creativity, and he quickly helped raise the tempo as City pushed for a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

That pressure eventually told through Semenyo\u2019s excellent finish.<\/p>\n

Chelsea almost responded immediately when Enzo Fernandez flashed an effort narrowly wide, but City managed the closing stages well.<\/p>\n

The victory ended City\u2019s recent run of FA Cup final disappointments after defeats against Manchester United and Crystal Palace in successive years.<\/p>\n

It also keeps alive hopes of another domestic treble with the Premier League title race still ongoing behind leaders Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Chelsea were left to reflect on another painful Wembley defeat after suffering a fourth consecutive loss in an FA Cup final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester City lifted the FA Cup for the first time since 2023 after Antoine Semenyo\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9768","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\/9768","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=9768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}