Liverpool will be returning to Wembley for the FA Cup final after Manchester City’s reshuffled defence let them down.
So Manchester City’s quest for the treble is over at the end of a disappointing afternoon at Wembley. (A section of) their supporters embarrassed themselves by disrupting a moment’s respect for the dead of Hillsborough before kick-off, while the team played as though they were still stiff from the cuts and bruises received during their Champions League match with Atletico Madrid. A gamble on shuffling the defence exploded in Pep Guardiola’s face and, while City supporters will argue that they’re still in the competitions that matter, it’s difficult to paint as a particularly positive day for the club in any way whatsoever.
Concerns about banks and banks of empty seats at Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Manchester City turned out to be somewhat overstated, with a reported attendance just shy of 74,000. The national stadium, which has been hosting cup semi-finals for a decade and a half as part of the Faustian pact required to get the damn thing built in the first place, was hosting two clubs from the north-west despite there being no direct trains into London from that part of England over Easter on account of engineering works. The people’s game, indeed.
But this game was a distinct contrast to the geometric display at the Etihad Stadium just six days earlier. It was an afternoon of slips and trips, of unforced errors and occasionally stodgy-looking attacks. Both teams look tired, as though the pressures of their consistent brilliance throughout the season are starting to come to bear. Within three minutes, City had half a chance when Joao Cancelo dragged the ball back for Jack Grealish, only for the forward to hesitate slightly and have his shot blocked.
Had that chance come ten minutes later, Grealish might well have buried it, but with less than three minutes on the clock, both Cancelo’s pass…
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