Antoine Semenyo flicked in a 71st-minute winner to gift Manchester City an eighth FA Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium, London.
Semenyo flicked in City’s 71st-minute winner from Erling Haaland’s cutback pass to settle a lacklustre showpiece match, which saw Man City claim their eighth FA Cup title and complete the cup double after they beat Arsenal in March’s Carabao Cup Final.
Outgoing captain, Bernardo Silva paid tribute to manager, Pep Guardiola for leading the club to another title success as he prepares to depart the club at the end of the 2025-26 season.
“Since I arrived it’s been 20 trophies which isn’t bad. I care a lot about Manchester City. I wish all the best to the manager because I really enjoy being with him and sharing all these moments together.”
With the Premier League title looking unlikely, City began the showpiece aware that this was a chance to claim a cup double as they began on the front foot albeit with no real notable quality.
Chelsea in response sat deep and relentlessly closed City down whilst deploying counter-attacking tactics, which saw Joao Pedro unleashed forward in the 22nd-minute but he selfishly failed to tee up an unmarked Enzo Fernandez and his shot was saved by James Trafford.
City almost punished Pedro’s silliness five minutes later as Semenyo slipped Matheus Nunes in, from which the Portuguese teed up Haaland to poke into the net but the goal was disallowed after Nunes had been offside in the initial pass from Semenyo.
Pedro however nearly won Chelsea a penalty in the first minute of first-half injury time after he got himself caught alongside Abdukodir Khusanov, but referee – Darren England and VAR ruled that the Brazilian went stumbling to the ground under minimal contact and dismissed his penalty appeal.
City manager, Pep Guardiola substituted Omar Marmoush for Rayan Cherki at half time but aside from a header over the bar from Semenyo shortly after the restart, the final continued to lack much quality as Fernandez saw his 57th-minute penalty appeals snubbed after his cross hit Nico O’Reilly’s arm.
England however wisely adjudged that O’Reilly’s arm was in a natural position and his decision was backed up by VAR.
Chelsea also saw another penalty appeal denied after Pedro tamely went down under pressure from Khusanov in the 66th minute.
City eventually broke the deadlock six minutes later as a move was worked across to Haaland who had strayed out to the right side of the box, which allowed him to play a low cutback pass which Semenyo flicked into the far left corner off his right heel.
Guardiola’s Cityzens eventually held on for their eighth title despite Rayan Cherki’s 85th-minute strike having been saved by Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea meanwhile face the prospect of a season without European football for the second time in four seasons – having last faced a domestic-only campaign in the 2023-24 season, unless they win their last two Premier League matches and results elsewhere go in their favour.
Teams
Chelsea: Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill, Jorell Hato, Reece James (Delap 83′), Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Marc Cucurella (Neto 74′), Joao Pedro (Garnacho 86′)
Substitutes: Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Dario Essugo, Trevoh Chalobah, Liam Delap, Alejandro Garnacho, Filip Jorgensen, Pedro Neto, Andrey Santos
Man City: James Trafford, Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, Rodri (Kovacic 65′), Bernardo Silva, Antoine Semenyo, Omar Marmoush (Cherki 46′), Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland
Substitutes: Nathan Ake, Rayan Cherki, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Phil Foden, Mateo Kovacic, Savinho, Tijani Reijnders, John Stones, Ruben Dias
Referee – Darren England