FA Cup SF: City win 2-1 to dethrone holders Chelsea

Manchester City dethroned defending champions Chelsea 2-1 in an action-packed second semi-final of the FA Cup at the packed Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Goals in each half by Sami Nasri and Sergio Aguero confirmed their domination over the holders who managed to pull one back through Ba.

The win will see Roberto Mancini's men take on Wigan Athletic in the final on May 11.

The match which was played between two Premier League heavyweights was full of action with City calling the shots from the word go.

Within the first 10 minutes they forced Cech into making a couple of saves.

First Aguero was denied from close range and later Nasri's effort was parried away by Cech.

Had it not been for his spectacular saves Chelsea would have found themselves trailing by a bigger margin.

However, it didn't take City time to break the deadlock. Toure made a fine run down the right and found Nasri with a precise pass. Nasri tapped it to Aguero, who passed it back to Nasri.

His first shot deflected off a defender which rebounded to Nasri and he tapped it in past a hapless Cech.
 
Aguero added to the tally immediately on resumption with a headed goal.

City boss Roberto Mancini said, "It was an important game for us. Chelsea were in a good momentum."

When asked whether the foul on Torres by Kompany deserved a penalty which was not given he said, "Yes it was a foul but then even when Yaya was brought down in the Chelsea box we deserved a penalty."

Mancini agreed that it has been a frustrating season but is a bit relaxed now that the team has made the final.

"We can hope to make the second position in the Premier League now, and if we can win the FA Cup, it would make me a happy man."

City captain Kompany said after the match that it was a great day for the team.

"We only hope to have the same momentum when we play the final," he added.

When he too was probed on his tackle on Torres towards the fag-end which could have costed the team if the referee had given a penalty, Kompany was quick to defend it by saying: "I thought it was great defending."

"It was a well thought game and at the same time a wake-up call for us ahead of the final against Wigan.

"I thought we defended very well. We never doubted that we wanted to win."

Wigan overcame Championship (second division) Millwall 2-0 at Wembley on Saturday in a match marred by fighting among the London club's supporters.

"Everyone can think we are favourites for this game but in 90 minutes anything can happen," Mancini warned.

"We know that Wigan play good football and if we want to beat them we have to prepare well."

Both sides will get an early dress rehearsal when they meet in the league at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday.

Chelsea, FA Cup winners in four of the last six seasons, were aggrieved to not be awarded a late penalty when Fernando Torres went down after wrestling with City captain Vincent Kompany.

Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez was adamant a spot-kick should have been given, and was less concerned by Aguero's ugly second-half challenge on David Luiz that appeared to be missed by referee Chris Foy.

Mancini said Aguero was a "good guy" while Benitez said he did not "like to point fingers at any player" after Aguero appeared to stamp on the Brazilian.

"The penalty not being given was a key moment in the game as Vincent Kompany could also have been sent off," Benitez said.

"It could have made a big difference. It was a clear penalty."

The Spaniard said tiredness was not a factor in Chelsea's defeat, with the Londoners having only two days full rest after their Europa League trip to Moscow where they sealed a semi-final place on Thursday by overcoming Rubin Kazan 5-4 on aggregate.

"How do you explain how we finished so strongly?" added Benitez, who continued his squad rotation policy by leaving Frank Lampard and John Terry on the bench.

"You have to give credit to Manchester City. They are a very strong team... physically, technically. We talked at halftime about showing more character in the second half, and we did."

City set the tone for a dominant opening half when Petr Cech clawed away Aguero's early effort from close range.

The Argentine was also denied by a fine block from Branislav Ivanovic as Chelsea were continually pushed back but in a rare foray forward, they almost took the lead.

Keeper Costel Pantilimon, who has started all of City's FA Cup games this season in place of England stopper Joe Hart, made a mess of clearing a corner and was grateful to Kompany's headed clearance on the goalline to deny Eden Hazard.

City made the most of the let off and went ahead when Ivorian Yaya Toure, the dominant figure in midfield, played a precise pass to Aguero's feet and his layoff bobbled off Cesar Azpilicueta and fell for Nasri to lash home.

Kompany should have added a second from a lightning attack but City rammed home their supremacy two minutes after the break when Aguero met Gareth Barry's cross with a looping header that went in off the post.

Chelsea got a lifeline when Ba turned to fire home after substitute Torres, seconds after coming on, had unsettled City's backline enough to force a messy clearance.

It was the first goal City have conceded in the competition and a only smart block from keeper Pantilimon denied Senegal forward Ba an equaliser.

FULL TIME
 
90 City go on the counter attack. Toure makes a long run from his own half into the Chelsea box and crosses for Aguero who couldn't time his shot well after he lost his balance.

86 Chelsea striving hard for an equaliser almost come close to scoring again as Torres is challenged by Kompany in the box just as the Spaniard is about to have a shy at goal.

85 Nasri is replaced by Lescott.

79 Yaya Toure makes a solo run down the middle and just as he is about to take a crack at goal is challenged. He does manage to have a shot from the top of the box but misses the target by inches.

77 YELLOW! City captain Kompany is pulled up for a body check on Chelsea's Mata.

75 City seem to have hit the panic button as Chelsea exert pressure with sporadic raids into the rival area.
73" Chelsea keep the pressure on and it begins to show on City as they replace Tevez for Javi Garcia.

69" Torres presence revives Chelsea as they come close on two occasions but Pantilimon lives up to the challenge.

First he deprives Mata on the edge of the box and later deflects Ramires' close-range shot.

65" Ba, with his back to the goal, flicked it to the left corner of Pantilimon in goal.

GOAL! Chelsea score to pull one back.

65 Torres comes in for Mikel.

64 Ramires messes up a precise pass from Mikel in front of goal.

55" City's dream of ending a barren season could soon turn into a reality as Chelsea seem to have thrown in the towel.

But with 35 minutes to go for the final whistle anything is possible.

47" GOAL! Aguero gives City 2-0 lead.

Gareth Barry sends a lovely cross from the right for Aguero to lunge over two defenders and head home past a stranded Cech in goal.

46" YELLOW! Ramires is booked for a foul on Milner.

HALF TIME

City go into the breather with a 1-0 lead.

Going by what transpired in the first half, City look favourites as they had more ball possession and more shots at the Chelsea goal.

Buoyed by their 2-0 win over Manchester United in the Premier League last Monday, it was evident from their aggressive play that they are determined to win their only silverware of the season.

45" Milner makes a run down the left flank as City outnumber Chelsea as they close in on goal but Milner instead of passing it to Aguero tries selflishly to score which Cech deprives him by bringing off a good save.

The rebound comes to Kompany who hits wide off the mark.

44" YELLOW! With a minute to go for half time Yaya Toure gets a yellow card for a nasty foul on Mikel in midfield.

40" The match is evenly poised at this stage with both teams having their share of the exchanges although City hold the upper hand with a goal in their kitty.

37" Chelsea's Oscar crosses from edge of box to Mata whose curling shot travels over the crossbar with Pantilimon making a valiant dive.
 
From the counter-attack Aguero comes close to beating Cech but mistimes his shot.

34" Nasri puts City ahead after Yaya Toure does the spadework by making inroads into the Chelsea territory.

Toure releases the ball to Nasri whose first shot deflected off a defender and made things easy for Nasri to tap home past a helpless Cech.

GOAL! Nasri scores for City

30" Chelsea find their rhythm as they begin to control the game with more ball possession after the first 30 minutes of play.

25" YELLOW! Gareth Barry gets yellow for bringing down Ramires as the action hots up.
 
Off the free-kick Bertrand found Ba in the box but with only Pantilimon at his mercy he failed to score.

23" Chelsea get their first look at the City goal when Luiz's shot beat goalkeeper Pantilimon but Kompany brought off a goalline save.

24" Chelsea look overawed by the situation as they fail to make any headway into the City area even as Aguero once again threatens the Chelsea citadel with a shot from just outside the box which unfortunately was blocked by Bertrand.

20" City for whom the FA Cup represents their only chance of ending the season with some silverware showed they meant business when they continued to assert their supremacy over Chelsea by dominating play for the first 20 minutes.

Chelsea had won 2-0 when the sides last met at the Etihad Stadium in late February. 

16" Chelsea having their first spell of sustained possession but it comes to an end when Mikel gives it away cheaply.

13" Aguero turns on the edge of the box, but Luiz reads it well to intercept.

9" City who are unbeaten against Chelsea in their last three meetings continue to show their superiority with Carlos Tevez testing Cech again from the right of the box.

Cech is equal to the task parrying it away for a corner.

7" City push forward and from a corner Toure deflects Milner's shot which is saved at the last minute by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

6" Clichy makes a superb run forward from his own half forcing a corner.

4" Sergio Aguero finds the side-netting after being put through by Toure as City set the momentum by taking early possession.

1" Man City what is expected to be a great semifinal

The excitement has reached fever-pitch as Premier League champions Manchester City take on Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup at the Wembley in a few moments from now to decide who will take on Wigan Athletic in the final on May 11.

Roberto Mancini made two changes for City bringing in Sergio Aguero for the injured David Silva and Pantilimon for Joe Hart.

Defending FA Cup champions Chelsea's interim manager Rafael Benitez overlooked the experienced Frank Lampard and John Terry.

STARTING LINE-UPS

Chelsea - Cech, Azplicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Bertrand, Mikel, Ramires, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Ba

Subs - Turnbull, Lampard, Torres, Moses, Terry, Benayoun, Ake.

Man City - Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Barry, Toure, Milner, Aguero, Nasri, Tevez

Subs - Hart, (K)Toure, Lescott, Kolarov, Garcia, Sinclair, Dzeko.

 

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