2-1 
Wigan Athletic had a considerably easier route to the FA Cup final, handling lower-level Millwall 2-0 on Saturday. Today, however, top-tier clubs Chelsea and Manchester City met for the other spot in next month's final.
Manchester City settled into the game early and created several good chances, but Chelsea were lively as well and the match was being played end-to-end at a high pace. City were first to score which started with a long run forward by Yaya Toure. He found Agüero in the box who used his first-touch to play Nasri in-on-goal. Nasri's first-touch was not kept close, but the ball came off a defender right back to his feet, giving him a close-range shot and finish (35').
Right after half-time City scored again when Barry lifted a diagonal ball into the box. Agüero managed to get his head on the cross and place the ball just inside the near-post (47').
Now behind two goals, Chelsea manager Benítez had no choice but to send on striker Torres to help Demba Ba in the attack. Before Torres could get involved though Ba scored when a long ball out of the back landed for him in the penalty area. The finish was quite impressive as he had to spin in mid-air to get the volley away past the keeper (66'). Ba had another good look moments later, but a big save by back-up keeper Pantilimon denied the striker from equalizing.
City used substitutes to slow down the game and managed to hold on to the lead. They will face Wigan Athletic in mid-May and are the obvious favorites to lift the FA Cup. They will likely have to do it without Agüero though, as a retrospective ban is surely coming for the striker. Late in today's match the referee missed a big call when he allowed Agüero to remain on the field after a very nasty foul. He clearly jumped and stomped on the back of David Luiz and while the referee missed it, the cameras did not.
No comments:
Post a Comment