Liverpool hang on to 3-2 win over City to reach FA Cup final
● Liverpool hung on to beat Manchester City 3-2 at Wembley Stadium yesterday to reach the final of the FA Cup and end Pep Guardiola’s hopes of a treble.
Jurgen Klopp’s side will meet the winners of today’s other semifinal between Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the May 14th final.
Guardiola opted to rest several of City’s starters, including goalkeeper Ederson, and the weakened side were outplayed in the first half, going in 3-0 down at the interval.
Ibrahima Konate headed Liverpool ahead from an Andy Robertson corner in the ninth minute before a dreadful error from City’s American back-up goalkeeper Zack Steffen gifted the Reds a second.
Steffen took too long when receiving a back pass from John Stones and Sadio Mane slid in to tackle the keeper and the ball flew into the net. Mane added another, on the stroke of half-time, in more conventional fashion, driving a volley past Steffen after being set up by Thiago Alcantara.
Guardiola made no changes at the break, even though he had options such as Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez to call on, but his side did spark into life.
Jack Grealish pulled a goal back 70 seconds after the resumption after Gabriel Jesus did well to beat Fabinho and set up the England midfielder who drilled home.
Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker was alert to get out quickly and foil Gabriel Jesus as the Brazilian burst goalwards but, while City were improved, they still were far from their usual levels of chance creation.
It was puzzling that Guardiola only made one of his possible five changes in the second half, bringing Mahrez on seven minutes from the end — and the Algerian did make a big impact.
Mahrez cut in from the right and dribbled along the byline before a low ball went through Alisson, then Bernardo Silva made it 3-2 in stoppage time.
That prompted a frantic final few minutes with Fernandinho and Mahrez both seeing shots deflected out for corners while Raheem Sterling’s weak shot was easily saved by Alisson.
At the other end Steffen did well to stop Roberto Firmino as Liverpool looked to finish off the contest but the final whistle confirmed their place in their 15th FA Cup final — their first in 10 years.
For City it was the third straight season in which they have lost in the last four of the FA Cup.
Liverpool remain in contention for four trophies, having won the League Cup, reached the semifinals of the Champions League and still being in the race for the Premier League title where they sit a point behind leaders City.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are focused on today’s FA Cup semifinal against Crystal Palace and have not been distracted by the British government imposing sanctions on club director Eugene Tenenbaum, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Friday.
The British government imposed sanctions on Tenenbaum in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, freezing his assets and citing his close association with Chelsea’s sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich.
Tuchel said he was not aware of new developments in the proposed takeover of the club.
The German said Chelsea, who won the Champions League last season, were disappointed to be knocked out in the quarterfinals but they were happy with their display in the 3-2 second leg win at Real Madrid on Tuesday.