Manchester City’s bid for an unprecedented quadruple went up in smoke as they were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday.
Hakim Ziyech’s strike in the 55th minute was all that separated the two sides and gave Thomas Tuchel’s side a deserved win over the unusually sluggish City at Wembley.
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To make matters worse for City, they lost star man Kevin De Bruyne to injury.
The midfielder was substituted after 47 minutes after landing awkwardly on his ankle and is now a doubt for next weekend’s Carabao Cup final clash with Tottenham.
Chelsea took the tie to Pep Guardiola’s side from the start, with their best chance of the first half falling to Ben Chilwell, who miscued a volley.
Ziyech put the ball in the net in the early stages but the goal wasn’t given due to an offside. But he wouldn’t be denied after the break, with the winner bearing a resemblance to his first-half strike.
Timo Werner found himself through on goal down the left as he latched onto a Mason Mount through ball.
The German could have shot himself but squared it to his teammate, who was in a much better position, and Ziyech duly tapped into an empty net.
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City not learning their lesson disappointed former player Trevor Sinclair, who said during talkSPORT’s live commentary: “Excellent run by Werner. He’s been making these runs all game. It’s similar to the goal that was offside in the first half… excellent finish, he only had to pass it into the goal.
“I have to say it’s poor defending from Manchester City. You have to look at certain positions of players and Benjamin Mendy doesn’t get anywhere near round enough to cover that Ziyech run and it’s a simple finish.”
Inevitably, City came out of their shells after the goal went in but Ziyech nearly made it 2-0 as he collected a long ball. His effort was well saved by Zack Steffen, though.
The runaway Premier League leaders had a couple of half-chances as Ruben Dias headed over a difficult opportunity from close range, while Raheem Sterling fired over when leaving it to the onrushing Ilkay Gundogan may have been the better option.
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Their best chance came in stoppage-time when Rodri’s header almost snuck in at the near post. This came moments before Christian Pulisic thought he’d doubled Chelsea’s lead but the American was offside.
Chelsea will face either Leicester or Southampton, who play in their semi-final on Sunday LIVE on talkSPORT, in the final on May 17.
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