Late Silva goal sends Man City into FA Cup final

Manchester City bounced back from the disappointment of the Champions League quarter-final exit to Real Madrid as Bernardo Silva’s late goal sunk Chelsea at Wembley to seal a place in the FA Cup final.

The Portuguese midfielder turned in the winner at the far post from Kevin de Bruyne’s cross six minutes from time.

Chelsea will regret missing a host of chances, nearly all falling to striker Nicolas Jackson, as they suffered another agonising Wembley experience after the extra-time defeat on penalties against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.

And Chelsea also feel they were victims of an injustice as they were infuriated that they were not awarded a second-half penalty when Cole Palmer’s free-kick struck Jack Grealish’s hand in the wall, only for the video assistant referee to rule no offence had taken place.

City remain on course for another double of Premier League and FA Cup and will now face either arch-rivals Manchester United or Championship side Coventry City in the final.

Man City dig deep for victory

City manager Pep Guardiola asked his side, who suffered such bitter disappointed as their hold on the Champions League trophy was wrestled away by Spanish giants Real, to go to the well once more against a highly-motivated Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

And, at times, it looked like the quest for victory might be beyond them as they looked jaded and leggy, only for their pedigree and muscle memory keeping them in contention until they could shake off the lethargy.

City did not even have a shot on target in the first half but slowly came into the game before, as the great sides do, they found a way to win.

The holders are always capable of moments of quality and it was no surprise that it was De Bruyne who unlocked Chelsea when they switched off fatally late on, the Belgian picking out Silva at the far post for the winner.

And it was a sweet moment for Silva, who chose to loft a dreadful penalty straight at Real keeper Andriy Lunin in a decisive moment in the shootout against Real as City’s attempt to win a second Champions League failed.

Here, as he has done so often, the Portuguese arrived with perfect timing to send City into another FA Cup Final.

City will be exhausted after another mammoth effort but will be refreshed for battles ahead by a hugely significant victory.

Chelsea suffer more Wembley agony

Chelsea and manager Mauricio Pochettino left Wembley with that “what might have been” feeling once again after seeing a golden chance to reach the FA Cup final pass them by.

Pochettino set his team up ideally to keep City at bay but once again, as they did in that Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool, Chelsea were their own worst enemies as they squandered opportunities to banish memories of that reverse.

And striker Jackson was the biggest culprit, deciding to go around City keeper Stefan Ortega when put clean through in the first half, failing to complete the job.

Jackson also shot low and tamely for Ortega to save in the second half, then saw a header clawed out by the keeper seconds later when the striker should have done better.

Chelsea will argue long and hard that they should have been awarded the penalty for what they felt was handball by Grealish from Palmer’s free-kick but it was all to no avail.

Palmer, Chelsea’s big hope, had a quiet game against his former club and Chelsea must focus on making a late run for a place in Europe as their trophy hopes were ended.

Player of the match

PalmerCole Palmer

with an average of 6.43

Manchester City

1. Squad number11Player nameDoku

   Average rating

   5.96

2. Squad number6Player nameAké

   Average rating

   5.80

3. Squad number18Player nameOrtega

   Average rating

   5.78

4. Squad number2Player nameWalker

   Average rating

   5.62

5. Squad number25Player nameAkanji

   Average rating

   5.62

6. Squad number17Player nameDe Bruyne

   Average rating

   5.31

7. Squad number52Player nameBobb

   Average rating

   5.25

8. Squad number20Player nameBernardo Silva

   Average rating

   5.25

9. Squad number3Player nameRúben Dias

   Average rating

   4.85

10. Squad number5Player nameStones

    Average rating

    4.81

11. Squad number16Player nameRodri

    Average rating

    4.72

12. Squad number47Player nameFoden

    Average rating

    4.57

13. Squad number10Player nameGrealish

    Average rating

    4.47

14. Squad number19Player nameÁlvarez

    Average rating

    4.17

Chelsea

1. Squad number20Player namePalmer

   Average rating

   6.43

2. Squad number27Player nameGusto

   Average rating

   6.33

3. Squad number28Player namePetrovic

   Average rating

   6.25

4. Squad number6Player nameThiago Silva

   Average rating

   6.25

5. Squad number14Player nameChalobah

   Average rating

   6.08

6. Squad number23Player nameGallagher

   Average rating

   6.05

7. Squad number3Player nameCucurella

   Average rating

   5.86

8. Squad number11Player nameMadueke

   Average rating

   5.40

9. Squad number25Player nameCaicedo

   Average rating

   5.22

10. Squad number8Player nameFernández

    Average rating

    5.18

11. Squad number21Player nameChilwell

    Average rating

    4.90

12. Squad number2Player nameDisasi

    Average rating

    4.71

13. Squad number7Player nameSterling

    Average rating

    4.34

14. Squad number10Player nameMudryk

    Average rating

    3.84

15. Squad number15Player nameJackson

    Average rating

    3.80