Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol (left), and Ruben Dias (right) celebrate after a goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City at Wembley stadium on April 27, 2025. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Even Manchester City’s worst season under Pep Guardiola could still end with a trophy.
On the day it was officially deposed as Premier League champion, City reached the Football Association (FA) Cup final for the third year in a row by beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley Stadium to maintain a chance of salvaging something from a dismal campaign.
City scored early on Sunday (April 28, 2025) in each half as Rico Lewis put his team ahead in just the second minute and defender Josko Gvardiol doubled the lead in the 51st with a header from a corner.
Forest hit the woodwork three times after that but couldn’t get a consolation goal in its first FA Cup semifinal since 1991.
The win gives Pep Guardiola’s team a chance to salvage something from a disappointing campaign where its hopes of a fifth straight Premier League title disappeared early and it failed to even reach the round of 16 in the Champions League.
City will play Crystal Palace in the final on May 17.
“Unfortunately, the season has not been as we wanted, but we are still in another FA Cup final,” said City midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who set up the opening goal. “So it’s good that we want to finish it in a strong way.”
Liverpool clinched the Premier League title at the same time as City was playing, and even an FA Cup title would be a mere consolation for a club that has dominated English soccer under Guardiola.
Even Guardiola made it clear that winning the cup would not make this a successful season.
“Noooo,” the Spaniard said emphatically. “The season has not been good. We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool…. But of course the damage will be [smaller].” That’s currently 21 points behind Liverpool for the record, but City still has work to do just to secure a Champions League spot for next season. Forest is one of the teams trying to finish above City, meaning there’s little time to dwell on this loss.
“Tomorrow we will wake up and see that we have a lot to fight for,” Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.
Empty seats
The jaded feeling among City fans was made evident by the 5,000 or so empty seats at Wembley in the sky blue half but the supporters who did make the trip had reason to celebrate early.
Lewis scored with his team’s first chance when he was teed up by Kovacic just outside the area, turned to face the goal and hit a low show inside the left post.
Forest hardly had a whiff at goal in the first half but had a chance to get right back in the game just after the restart. Halftime substitute Anthony Elanga almost scored with his first touch when Callum Hudson-Odoi picked him out with a low cross into the area, but the Swede put his effort wide.
Instead, City made it 2-0 minutes later.
A chaotic sequence where Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels made three saves in quick succession ended in a corner after City had a strong appeal for handball waved away. Any debate about whether it should have been a penalty ended when Gvardiol rose unchallenged to head home the corner from close range.
Morgan Gibbs-White then hit the woodwork twice, first blasting a volley against the crossbar and later hitting the post from a tight angle after he pounced on a poor back pass and rounded goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
Taiwo Awoniyi also hit the post in the 79th and Ortega kept out Gibbs-White’s effort from the rebound as Forest just couldn’t find a breakthrough.
“It’s devastating. … I hold my hand up and apologize. I should have scored at least one of them,” Gibbs-White said about his chances. “As soon as I hit the crossbar I had a feeling it wasn’t our day.”
Published – April 28, 2025 02:41 pm IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com