No final Wembley fairytale

MANCHESTER CITY have a lot to be grateful to Roberto Mancini for following the Italian’s managerial success at The Etihad.

He won three trophies in four entertaining seasons, including the club’s first Premier League title in such infamous fashion back in 2012.

But Mancini’s greatest gift to them is without doubt his decision a decade ago to sign a certain David Silva from Valencia for £24million.

At the time some people questioned the fee. Some people even said he was too small to succeed in English football. One pundit who shall remain nameless mistook him for David Villa.

Those same people have now spent the last 10 years eating so much humble pie that the stuff must be coming out of their ears. It has to be one of the saddest aspects of a season that will be forever defined by the impact of Covid-19 that Silva will leave City next month without supporters of any club, not just his own, being given the chance to say goodbye.

The Spanish maestro has been the most cultured player to ever grace English football – and not just because of what he’s done on the pitch, but also what he hasn’t done off it.

We’ve not seen him rolling out of nightclubs, or posting crude pictures of his wealth on social media. In fact, once he leaves the pitch he tends to vanish into thin air. No wonder he’s known as ‘Merlin’ in the blue half of Manchester.

So here at Wembley in this FA Cup semi-final, it was another one of the few remaining chances to see one of the genuine greats of the game grace one of the greatest stages in football.

One last chance to see El Mago (the magician) produce more of his mesmerising tricks in a bid to get City into yet another major final.

Floating around in an attacking midfield role, Silva threaded the needle