City beats Chelsea with late goal in FA Cup semi

Manchester City’s European rule is over — its domestic dominance is not. Even on a day when Arsenal rose to the summit of the English Premier League with a 2-0 win against Wolves, City kept its pursuit of back-to-back domestic doubles alive by booking its place in the FA Cup final.

Bernardo Silva’s late goal secured a 1-0 win against Chelsea in their semifinal on Saturday, just days after City’s Champions League defence was ended by Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola’s team had to dig deep at Wembley, with Chelsea creating the best of the chances before Silva struck an 84th-minute winner.

A sweet moment for the Portuguese playmaker was even more special given he missed a penalty in the shootout loss to Madrid on Wednesday. “I’m very happy after a very frustrating week for all of us, for me personally,” Silva said. “The good thing is in football at Man City, you play every three days. Every three days you have the chance to put things right and now we have a chance to win another trophy.”

City hoped to become the first team to win back-to-back trebles after winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup last season. Without the injured Erling Haaland, it had to show character to bounce back after the disappointment of defeat to Madrid.

Chelsea had chances to take the lead, but Nicolas Jackson wasted three golden opportunities before Silva’s decisive moment — converting Kevin De Bruyne’s cross from the left via a deflection from Marc Cucurella.

“We conceded in a moment you should not concede,” Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “We were not capable of being clinical in front of goal, we had many chances but we did not score. In the game we were a little bit better and deserved more. But it is not about deserving it, it is about being clinical and we were not.”

City is aiming to win the Cup for an eighth time, while Guardiola can extend his trophy haul to 16 since joining the club if his team completes the double.

Manchester United meets Coventry in the other semifinal today. The final is on May 25.

Arsenal also had to show its resolve after a punishing week of its own. Defeat to Aston Villa last weekend left Mikel Arteta’s team trailing City by two points at the top of the standings and that was followed by Champions League elimination at the hands of Bayern Munich. After last season’s late title collapse, it looked like history was repeating itself.

But a 2-0 win at Wolves went some way to answering doubts about Arsenal’s credentials. Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard scored late in each half. Arsenal took over first place, a point clear of City, which has a game in hand.

Third-placed Liverpool can go level on points with Arsenal if it beats Fulham today.