Antoine Semenyo was the hero as Manchester City secured their second trophy of the season on Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea. Semenyo scored a sublime flick with 18 minutes left on the clock in what seemed like a lifeless affair at the Wembley Stadium.
The first half was low on excitement as Chelsea chose to sit back at the defence while City lacked much creativity in the attack. Erling Haaland’s first half goal was ruled out after Matheus Nunes was found to be offside in the build up.
Semenyo had a great chance to open the scoring early in the second half but headed over the bar. Chelsea also made an attempt at goal with Moises Caicedo’s header which Rodri nodded off.
Midway in the second half, Haaland traded passes with Bernardo Silva before crossing to Semenyo and the Ghanaian sent a sublime flick past Sanchez and into the bottom corner. Chelsea captain Enzo Fernandez almost produced an instant equaliser but his volley narrowly crossed over the bar from a long throw.
ALSO READ: FA Cup final: All eyes on Enzo Fernandez to salvage Chelsea’s underwhelming season
City’s attempt at a second goal from both Nunes and Rayan Cherki were denied by Sanchez but it turned out be uneccessary as Pep Guardiola’s men went on the 20th trophy of his City career from Semenyo’s lone goal.
Reflecting on his trophy-winning goal, Semenyo said: ” “It’s a good finish I can’t lie! It feels surreal to be honest. I don’t even have words to describe it.
“It’s happened a couple of times in training! It happened perfectly today. It was behind me, as long as I got contact on it and it was towards goal, I was hoping it would go in.
“Everything happened so fast. I wanted to get into the box and make sure I’m a presence. It came straight to me and I just had to improvise as quickly as I can. I’m happy with the finish and grateful. It was good enough contact, timed perfectly and Sanchez couldn’t get there.”
City still have a chance to make it a treble as they are still in contention for the Premier League title with two league games to go. As for Chelsea, it was a fifth-straight Wembley final without a goal. The defeat also means the Blues failed to qualify for the Europa League. Their only chance for European football qualification remains to overhaul Brentford’s two-point gap in the eight position which could give them the ticket to the Conference League.
