City see off Southampton to reach record fourth successive FA Cup final | OneFootball

City produced a comeback 2-1 win against Southampton at Wembley to book a record fourth successive FA Cup final appearance.

After going behind to a Finn Azaz opener for the Saints late on, goals from Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez at the death meant it was City who progressed to the showpiece next month and a second final appearance this season after beating Arsenal to lift the Carabao Cup.

City will face either Chelsea or Leeds on Saturday 16 May, the Whites and the Blues meeting on Sunday for the chance to face Pep Guardiola’s men.

THE GAME IN 250 WORDS

It was the most glorious evening for football as City and Southampton took to the pitch at Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final.

Pep Guardiola’s Blues were looking to reach a fourth successful final as we also hunted down our second piece of silverware this season after March’s Carabao Cup triumph.

Tonda Eckert’s Saints, meanwhile, were hoping to add the scalp of City to those of Fulham and Arsenal as the Championship outfit went into this one on the back of 20 games unbeaten in all competitions.

City fans unveiled an Oasis-inspired tifo just before kick-off, Liam and Noel Gallagher featuring in all their glory alongside the wording ‘City are Back. City are Back. Hello. Hello’. By the end of the game, the Blues were guaranteeing yet another trip to Wembley – Guardiola’s 24th in 10 years – with Chelsea or Leeds lying in wait next month.

When the game kicked off, City’s first half was one of effort and endeavour but Guardiola’s men couldn’t find the end product.

Tijjani Reijnders had a shot forced against the post by keeper Daniel Peretz in the opening exchanges after a pinpoint cut back from Omar Marmoush while the Egyptian then had his effort blocked by Nathan Wood – both promising moves eventually seeing a assistant referee flag go up for offside.

Then Southampton thought they’d opened the scoring when Leo Scienza calmy slotted past James Trafford. Saints fans celebrated wildly but realisation slowly dawned that the goal had been chalked off after another offside.

Despite that scare, City were still the team in the ascendancy with midfielder Mateo Kovacic, making his first start of the season, showing pace and grace to evade a number of Saints players on his march into the box before eventually firing wide of the mark from an acute angle.

Marmoush – in the thick of the action - then forced Peretz into a point-blank save after being played in by a clever Reijnders pass in the left channel.

In the second half, the Blues were again bossing the contest and looking far more likely to make the breakthrough. Lots of huffing and puffing as they looked to blow down the Saints door.

Phil Foden’s shot was too high to trouble Peretz while Reijnders had an effort blocked as he broke clear into the box and saw another just fly past the Saints No.41’s left-hand post.

Sub Jeremy Doku was immediately involved after coming on just shy of the hour mark, playing in Rayan Ait-Nouri who cut back for Marmoush but the Blues No.7 couldn’t keep his effort down.

Fellow sub Savinho then forced a smart save from the busy Peretz with Guardiola rallying his players from the sidelines.

Nico, Cherki and Reijnders were then all out of luck in front of goal as a trio of chances in quick succession went begging.

Astonishingly, Southampton opened the scoring with a Finn Azaz strike from distance flying past Trafford and giving the Saints an unlikely lead.

But the Blues hit back with a Doku drive that flew in after a deflection via right-back James Bree.

And then Nico won it for City with a brilliant blast from distance with minutes remaining on the clock.

TEAMS

CITY XI: Trafford, Nunes, Stones (C), Ake, Ait-Nouri (O’Reilly 71’), Nico, Kovacic (Doku 58’), Reijnders (Silva 85’), Cherki, Foden (Savinho 58’), Marmoush (Haaland 71’)

Subs: Donnarumma, Guéhi, Khusanov, Lewis

SOUTHAMPTON XI: Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Welington (Matsuki 76’), Jander, Bragg (Charles 61’), Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, Stewart

Subs: Long, Quarshie, Jelert, Robinson, Edozie, Archer, Larin

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: NICO GONZALEZ

You always know what you’re getting with Nico Gonzalez – or so we thought!

Our central midfielder is renowned for his industry and tenacity in screening the back four and being a vital cog in the central ground.

What we didn’t know about him was his ability to score screamers, his last-gasp stunner helping see off stubborn Southampton and send us triumphantly into a record fourth successive FA Cup final.

It was quite some moment and his goal was worthy of winning any game of football.

MANAGER VERDICT

“I never thought it would be easy.

“So the energy we had in the second half from Jeremy and Savinho, if they started from the beginning they would not have this energy. Because Jeremy, especially when you play three days, three days, three days, the risk of getting injured is so massive.

“The players deserved to play, they helped us. The first half was not bad. We didn’t concede much.

“In the second half, we played at the level we played in Burnley but unfortunately we arrived in the 18-yard box and we were not clinical enough.

“You have to wait for the holding midfielder to score an outstanding goal. And Jeremy with the first.

“How many times in the second half did Southampton cross the halfway? One. And what a goal.

“Football is unpredictable. Big credit for the way they defend, the way they play.

“And, again, the team in the second half was really exceptional. The amount of ‘go, go, go’.

“We created chance after chance after chance. But football is like this.

“We equalise through the deflection. When you analyse, we created chances more clear than that. That’s football.”

DOKU REACTION

“We have one objective and that is to win the trophy. That’s what we’re going for.

“It was a very difficult game, a very compact team, a good team, who play football from the back. We knew it was going to be difficult.

“In the second half we pushed and pushed and then they scored the goal. We knew we had to score within the next 10 or 15 minutes.

“We managed to continue what we were doing, pushing forward, and then we scored two nice goals.”

WHAT IT MEANS

City are through to our fourth successive FA Cup final.

We will hope to capture our second piece of silverware of the season as we face either Chelsea or Leeds at Wembley on Saturday 16 May, kick-off 15:00 (UK).

The Carabao Cup is already in the cabinet as Pep Guardiola now eyes yet more silverware with what would be his third FA Cup win and his 20th major trophy with the Blues.

WHAT’S NEXT

It’s back to Premier League action for our next assignment as we travel to Everton in nine days’ time.

The game takes place at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday 4 May, kick-off 20:00 (UK).

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