Semenyo's stunning backheel wins the FA Cup for Manchester City as the cup double goes to Guardiola
Manchester City lifted the FA Cup at Wembley with a 1-0 win over Chelsea, sealed by a 72nd-minute Antoine Semenyo backheel that took the breath out of an evenly matched final. It is City's eighth FA Cup, Pep Guardiola's third with the club, and the second leg of a domestic cup double, paired with the Carabao Cup City won 2-0 against Arsenal back in March.
The goal will be replayed for years. Bernardo Silva slid Erling Haaland down the right, Haaland's pull-back arrived behind Semenyo as Levi Colwill closed him down, and the Ghanaian let it run through his legs before flicking a deliberate right heel back into the path of the ball, sending it low past Robert Sanchez into the far corner. Semenyo became the first Ghanaian to score in a men's FA Cup final.
A final that needed a moment
For the first 70 minutes neither side had truly threatened. Both teams kept hold of the ball without sharpening into clear chances, and Erling Haaland had a goal chalked off for offside earlier in the match, the kind of near-miss that often turns into a long, flat afternoon for the team that scored it.
Semenyo's finish changed all of that. Asked afterwards how it had come about, he kept his answer short: "It came straight to me and I had to improvise as quickly as I can. It has happened a couple of times in training. It happened perfectly today."
Chelsea pushed for an equaliser in the closing twenty minutes and Robert Sanchez had to come and clean up a couple of long balls in behind, but the equaliser would not arrive. By full time Guardiola had locked his block in and City saw the trophy out without alarms.
The PL race still has the last word
The cup double is sealed, but the bigger prize is still Arsenal's to lose. Mikel Arteta's side go into their last two games two points clear of City and need wins against Burnley at home and Crystal Palace away to claim the title. If they manage both, Saturday's cup goes in the cabinet on its own and Arsenal take the league. If they slip in either game, City's win at Wembley becomes a far heavier piece of silverware, and a season that had looked like Arsenal's begins to tilt back.
For Semenyo, who arrived at City in a £64 million January move from Bournemouth, this is the kind of afternoon that resets a profile in one swing of a boot. He was picked from the start ahead of Phil Foden and rewarded the call with the goal of the final, and afterwards spoke about a finish he had tried a couple of times in training. For Chelsea, who finished the season chasing a Champions League place that is no longer in their hands, the gap to City has widened across both halves of this campaign and across these ninety minutes.
Guardiola took the trophy from the steps with a wide, tired smile. He has another midweek to think about Arsenal's run-in, and a summer that will tell him whether this team needed a finishing touch or a rebuild.
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