Sadio Mane’s first-half brace saw Liverpool defeat Manchester City 3-2 at Wembley Stadium to reach the 2021-22 FA Cup Final.
Liverpool took a ninth minute lead through Ibrahima Konate’s header from a corner after Mane’s cross was blocked.
Mane pounced on a goalkeeping error from Zack Steffen to double Liverpool’s lead seven minutes later, with the Senegalese forward adding his second goal with a clinical 45th minute strike from just outside the box.
City hit back just two minutes after half-time through Jack Grealish reduced City’s deficit with Bernardo Silva’s injury-time strike proving too late, as Liverpool clung on to reach their first FA Cup Final since 2011-12 season and first under Jurgen Klopp’s management.
Liverpool will now face either Chelsea or Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, on Saturday 14 May in the 2021-22 FA Cup Final.
Both teams rang the changes in their starting line-ups following midweek Champions League draws as only Joao Cancelo, John Stones, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva kept their places in City’s starting line-up from Wednesday’s goalless draw at Atletico Madrid.
Liverpool meanwhile made eight changes from their 3-3 draw at home to Benfica, with only Ibrahima Konate, Naby Keita and Luis Diaz retained in the starting eleven, whilst Mane and Mohamed Salah were amongst several players returning to the starting XI.
Once the whistle blew to kick off the semi-final in front of a packed crowd under the warm Easter sunshine, it was City who made the better start as Fernandinho launched a sudden fourth minute attack towards Joao Cancelo to pull back to Jack Grealish but his shot was blocked.
City’s defence then began to make similar sloppy errors as saw in their league match six days ago which was soon punished, as Mane’s ninth minute cross was blocked which led to Konate heading Liverpool in front from the resulting corner.
Foden missed a chance to equalise just seven minutes later as he headed Gabriel Jesus’ right-flanked cross back across goal, only for Alisson to comfortably save unchallenged but City’s issues got worse just one minute later.
Stones played a backpass to goalkeeper, Zack Steffen but the American dawdled too long on the ball as Mane slid in, with the Senegalese forward getting enough power to bundle the ball in beyond Steffen’s reach to double Liverpool’s lead.
Liverpool proceeded to control the rest of the first-half as they pressed Man City across the pitch and limit their league rivals to scrappy half-chances, before striking again in the 45th minute to put a huge dent in City’s hopes of a trophy treble this season.
With City largely pegged back into their own box, Liverpool calmly passed the ball in and out of the box until Andrew Robertson teed up Thiago to play one-two with Trent Alexander-Arnold, prior to finding Mane on the edge of the box to rifle into the bottom right corner.
After the break, City made a bright energetic start which quickly paid off as Jesus latched onto a forward pass, which led to a swivel inside the box as he proceeded to tee up Grealish to smash in and reduce their deficit down to two goals.
Mane then missed a chance to reinstall Liverpool’s three-goal lead four minutes later as Diaz started an attack, which led to him cutting into the central third where he found Salah to flick across for Mane to shoot on the turn but Steffen saved comfortably.
Jesus then saw two shots wasted in the 54th and 70th minutes as he was unleashed through on goal, only for Alisson to deny him on both occasions with well-executed saves.
Oleksandr Zinchenko proved crucial in the 72nd minute as his cross was saved by Alisson who found Robertson to launch a counter-attack, with Zinchenko recovering in time to nod down Diaz’s cross which Salah could only fire into the side-netting.
Salah and substitute, Roberto Firmino both saw late chances denied by Steffen but Bernardo Silva further reduced City’s deficit in the first minute of injury time, as the Portuguese rifled in from Alisson’s block of Riyad Mahrez’s shot.
This victory also means that Liverpool remain on course for a historic quadruple as they chase the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions titles to go alongside their Carabao Cup triumph from earlier this season.
Liverpool will next be in action on Tuesday 19 April as they meet Manchester United at Anfield in the Premier League, whilst Man City host Brighton 24 hours later on Wednesday 20 April.
Teams
Manchester City: Zack Steffen, .Joao Cancelo, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish Gabriel Jesus (Mahrez 83′), Raheem Sterling
Substitutes: Ederson, Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Rodrigo, Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia
Liverpool: Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara (Jones 87′), Naby Keita (Henderson 73′), Luis Diaz (Firmino 85′), Sadio Mane (Jota 85′), Mohamed Salah
Substitutes: Caoimhin Kelleher, James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Joel Matip
Referee – Michael Oliver
Man of the Match – Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
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