SUMMARY
- Pep Guardiola went on a rant After Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final clash.
- City defeated Chelsea 1-0 to reach the final.
Manchester City has made it to their second FA Cup final in a row! The team defeated Chelsea in the semi-final at Wembley with a deflected goal from their Portuguese superstar, Bernardo Silva in the 84th minute. After the match, City manager Pep Guardiola went on a massive rant on the scheduling of the fixture.
On April 18, the defending Champions League winners Manchester City took on Real Madrid in the home leg of the UCL 2023-24 quarter-final. After 90 minutes of regular action and 30 minutes of extra time, the result was decided in the tie-breaker where Real won the contest 4-3. Hence, there is no doubt that the team was incredibly tired ahead of the April 20 clash against Chelsea.
Together 🩵#ManCity pic.twitter.com/Yf6R0d9nsu
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 20, 2024
However, despite such a grueling match against Madrid, City managed to dominate the game. They had 63% possession, completed 586 passes with 89% accuracy, and registered 14 shots with 3 of them being on target. However, City’s lack of attacking edge can be attributed to Erling Haaland’s absence due to injury. But, not just that, as per Guardiola, the Champions League hangover also had a big part of play in their performance.
Pep Guardiola questions the timing of the Manchester City vs. Chelsea FA Cup fixture
In the post-match interview with BBC, Pep Guardiola went on a rant of a lifetime! Speaking with Gary Lineker, the former Barcelona midfielder questioned the FA’s decision to place Manchester City’s fixture with Chelsea only two days after their clash with Real Madrid. In his justification, Pep also added that the other semi-final between Manchester United and Coventry City F.C. should have been moved up as neither played mid-week.
“You can change your squad around though and play different players.”
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 20, 2024
Pep Guardiola wasn’t happy about Man City’s quick turnaround after Wednesday, so @AlanShearer asked him why he didn’t use more of his squad.#FACup pic.twitter.com/OvBOeAR4mh
He added, “It’s unacceptable to play today. It’s unacceptable. It’s not normal. For the health of the players, after 120 minutes… it’s unacceptable… I don’t understand how we survived today… Nothing is gonna change. Nothing. Why today and not tomorrow when Chelsea, Man United and Coventry don’t play midweek? Why? Tell me why, it’s for the health of the players.” (h/t via Fabrizio Romano)
However, the entire City team showed why exactly they won the treble last season as they put up a gritty performance against a defiant Chelsea. Several players such as Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne who played a big part in the Madrid clash mid-week, stepped up to the plate and performed to the best of their ability to take their team to the final and go one step closer to retaining the trophy.
Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 in a controversial finish
Manchester City is well on its way to becoming the FA Champion back-to-back. As previously mentioned, the match ended 1-0 for City. However, it could have been entirely different if some luck went to Chelsea’s way. In the 57th minute, the London-based team secured a free-kick just outside of the penalty box, and the former City prodigy Cole Palmer lined up to take it.
Grealish handball inside the penalty area and the ball went out for a corner. That should have been a stonewall penalty for Chelsea.
— ☈ッ (@TheFergusonWay) April 20, 2024
The referees have reviewed the handball, said it wasn’t a penalty, and gave it as a City goal kick.pic.twitter.com/12TeO26FoQ
The free-kick was guarded by a wall of Kevin De Bruyne on the left, Julian Alvarez on the right, and Jack Grealish in the middle, inside the box. The ball from Palmer hit Grealish’s hand while he was jumping up in the air, and it seemed like his hand was moving toward the ball. However, the VAR disagreed and did not award Chelsea the penalty, which enraged a lot of fans.
Other than that, Nicholas Jackson had a golden opportunity to put Chelsea forward in the 29th minute of the match. Not only did he fail to take the chance, but Jackson did not even shoot in the empty net in front of him. The loss means that the Mauricio Pochettino-led team will go trophyless this season. City, on the other hand, is in the pole position in the Premier League and waiting to find out which team they will face in the FA Cup final.