Key events
58 min: Alvarez is yellow-carded for not retreating at a garden-variety free kick. What a pointless booking.
56 min: Grealish’s arm was by his side … but well away from his body. Opinions will vary, but you can file that under Seen Them Given. Also under Nobody Knows Anything. VAR says no … but Chelsea don’t even get the corner. Grealish has the good grace to look a little sheepish.
55 min: Palmer takes. A fierce shot deflects through the wall and wide right. That came off Grealish’s hand. VAR will take a look.
54 min: Madueke shimmies down the inside-right channel and is clumsily checked by Grealish. A free kick in a dangerous position, just to the right of the D.
53 min: City finally put Petrovic to serious work! Grealish glides down the inside-left channel and into the box. He rolls across for Foden, who slams a first-time shot towards the bottom left. The Chelsea keeper gets down well to parry with a strong hand. City keep the pressure on and win another corner; again the set piece is a waste of time. but that’s better from City!
51 min: City win a corner down the right. Foden takes, but it’s no good, and easily cleared. The champions have been strangely blunt so far. “Much as all species trend towards the crab, all possession based football teams slowly morph into late period Wenger Arsenal,” argues Jonny Bull in an email with the subject heading ‘Carcinization and Guardiola’.
49 min: Chelsea have come out flying. Cucurella nearly releases Jackson down the left with a cute pass, but Walker holds his position. Then Jackson is found in space down the middle by Gallagher. He opens his body and aims a low curler towards the bottom right. Ortega parries. Jackson has had two big chances now … and make that three, because the ball comes back into the box from the right by Palmer, and Jackson heads weakly at Ortega. He really should have scored.
47 min: Madueke lashes a wild effort high and wide from distance. “City look cooked,” suggests Rick Harris. “Chelsea really should be ahead and they might come to regret their lack of the killer instinct when big chances come their way.”
46 min: Walker’s studs make contact with Gallagher’s lower back as the pair contest a high ball. It looked slightly unnecessary … but to be fair, Gallagher is more than happy to accept Walker’s subsequent apology.
Chelsea get the second half underway. City have made one half-time swap, replacing Stones with Dias. A reminder that if this doesn’t get settled during the next 45 minutes plus stoppage time, we’ll get 30 minutes of extra time and possibly penalties.
Half-time long read, courtesy of David Wall. “The FA, among others, have been fretting for years about the cup losing its prestige and specialness, but they’re the most culpable for that because they’ve systematically diluted the challenge in what is, officially, ‘the FA Challenge Cup’.
“If they really want to restore it to former glories then they should roll back all of the changes made over the last 20 years or so. So rather than no replays, you have the possibility of endless replays, neutral venues for semi-finals (there are enough large capacity stadiums in London now that using Wembley is never necessary even if a semi-final involves two London clubs (the justification for Spurs – Arsenal at Wembley in 1991)) and a 3pm kick off for the final, which is the last game of the domestic season.
“I appreciate the point about reducing the number of matches for players, but that just means that managers will have to be clever with rotating their squads. And if that means playing a weakened side sometimes then so be it, it just means that they’re less likely to win. It’s supposed to be difficult, a challenge, to win. Pretty soon it’ll be just another run-of-the-mill competition and that will only make the bigger clubs more rather than less likely to lose interest.”
Preach on, brother.
HALF TIME: Manchester City 0-0 Chelsea
The keepers haven’t had too much to do, and yet both teams have looked lively in attack. It’s just not quite happened at the sharp end for either. A better game than the scoreline suggests.
45 min: Finally a yellow card, as Caicedo grabs a handful of the in-flight De Bruyne’s shirt. Chelsea’s all-action midfielder teetering on the tightrope now.
43 min: Foden goes marauding down the inside left and is hacked in the agricultural style by Caicedo, who really should be going into the referee’s notebook … but isn’t. A free kick just to the left of the D. Foden floats to the far stick, and out of play for a goal kick. It’s not really clicking for City so far.
42 min: Grealish sashays down the left before slipping a pass inside for Foden, who attempts an intricate one-two with De Bruyne on the edge of the Chelsea box. It doesn’t quite come off. Nearly.
40 min: Chelsea stroke it around the back in confident fashion. Suddenly a long ball’s whisked down the right for Madueke, who keeps it in play by the byline spectacularly. However the resulting cross is chested down calmly by Walker at the far stick and Ortega claims.
38 min: Palmer would have been within his rights to go down as he passed Rodri, by the way. There was a light clip and a hand around the waist. It’d have been soft, but he’d have certainly given the referee and VAR operative a decision to make, put it that way.
37 min: Jackson and Madueke are momentarily in a two-on-one situation, but their interchanges are clumsy and the decisions poor. The move breaks down. But Chelsea come again fast, Palmer dancing in from the right and gliding past Rodri. He opens his body and aims to pass one into the bottom left, but Ortega isn’t having that. City clear.
35 min: Madueke enters the City box from the right and jinks his way to the edge of the six-yard box, whereupon things momentarily open up for him to shoot. Which he does, only for Stones to arrive from nowhere and block brilliantly. Both teams are getting closer and closer to that elusive opening goal.
34 min: Silva drifts in from the right. He’s got options in the middle, but opts to look for the top-left corner instead. Let’s just say his attempted curler is better than his penalty earlier in the week, and leave it at that.
32 min: Akanji and Ake try to deliver it from the aforementioned corner, but run the ball out of play down the inside-left flank. Petrovic then takes his sweet time over the restart, displeasing City as he faffs. The referee is made aware.
31 min: Cucurella attempts to find Jackson in the middle but his low cross doesn’t get past Ortega. Then City go up the other end, Grealish and De Bruyne combining down the left to win a corner. This is great fun and surely a goal is coming from somewhere soon.
29 min: Jackson is sent scampering clear down the middle of the park by Fernandez. He’s onside, having made the run from his own half. City all over the shop! Except for Ortega and Stones, that is, who combine to push the striker wide left as he tries to round the keeper and slot. Jackson doesn’t have the confidence to shoot from a tight angle, with Stones on the line, and checks back. The chance is gone.
27 min: Alvarez swings a City corner in from the left. Cucurella clears. City come again, Grealish curling in from the same flank. Foden goes for a header but misses. Alvarez, coming in behind from the right, hooks goalwards; Cucurella hooks clear. Then the offside flag goes up against Foden, who became active when he clearly went for the ball. City getting closer and closer, though.
26 min: Fernandez clips Rodri from behind. He gets away without a yellow, like De Bruyne before him. Both teams have had one now.
24 min: Chelsea are giving as good as they’re getting. Madueke releases Gusto into space down the right. A low cross is blocked, then an offside flag goes up. A nice to-and-fro to this.
22 min: City are beginning to make chances. Grealish cuts in from the left and looks for Alvarez in the middle. Alvarez, on the penalty spot, can’t control. Chelsea then launch a counter, only for Jackson and Fernandez to lose their rhythm in the middle of the park. Their fans howl in impotent frustration.
20 min: Alvarez chops his way down the inside-left channel, turning poor Chalobah inside and out like a pair of freshly laundered socks. His shot deflects off De Bruyne and out for a corner … after which the flag pops up for offside.
19 min: Caicedo closes down Ake and makes a hard-but-fair old-school block challenge. That was a coming together at 101 mph. Great fun to watch, especially for those of a 1980s vintage, but he won’t want to mistime another of those.
17 min: De Bruyne slides in clumsily on the in-flight Madueke from behind. It’s a clear trip and should be a yellow card, not least because it’s not his first foul, but the referee seems minded to keep his cards in his pocket early doors. The officials in semi-final mode.
15 min: De Bruyne releases Foden into the box with an outrageous thread down the inside-right channel. Foden rounds Petrovic on the outside, but the keeper’s forced him too far wide to slot. Foden dinks into the middle, where Cucurella heads clear from the six-yard box. City still force a corner, but De Bruyne wastes it by trying to give Petrovic the eyes and surprise him at the near post. Wide.
13 min: Walker slips when attempting to chest down a poor pass from Grealish and allows Gallagher to tear off with the ball down the left. City’s captain is fortunate that his team-mates hold their shape. The ball’s switched to the right flank, where Gusto wins another Chelsea corner.
11 min: Palmer attempts to lob Ortega from the centre circle. Full marks for ambition if nothing else.
10 min: Now City win their first corner, through De Bruyne down the left. Alvarez takes it short, exchanging passes with De Bruyne before curling it long. Rodri rises at the far stick but can only waft a header straight at Petrovic from a tight angle. A brisk end-to-end start to this semi.
9 min: Chelsea look dangerous whenever they snaffle possession and stream forward, and Madueke forces the first corner of the game. Gallagher sends it in from the right. Silva can’t get a clean header away, and Grealish wellies clear.
7 min: Jackson bursts into some space down the right and looks to be upended from behind by Ake. But the referee doesn’t see it that way and play goes on. No matter, because Chelsea soon come again, Gallagher stealing the ball off Walker and laying off to Palmer, who releases Jackson down the inside-left channel. Jackson shoots from the edge of the box. It’s a fierce effort, but straight at Ortega.
6 min: City are dominating possession, like that’s some sort of newsflash. “I reckon Chelsea will want this to go to penalties just to show that they’re able to take them in an orderly fashion,” writes Peter Oh. “My sources tell me that the coaching staff is frantically revising the list of takers (‘Jackson, Madueke, Jackson, Madueke, Palmer’).”
4 min: Silva is now put into bother by Petrovic, who gives him a pass he doesn’t want. He’s nearly swarmed by sky-blue shirts, but does enough to get the ball away from danger again. Chelsea living dangerously.
3 min: Palmer, who has a leg strapped up already, isn’t moving freely, having been clipped accidentally by Stones. Hopefully for Chelsea he’ll be able to run the impact off.
2 min: … but now they nearly go ahead, Cucurella playing a careless backpass that nearly lets Alvarez in. Silva slides across to avert disaster.
1 min: Some space for Cucurella down the left. He looks for Madueke in the middle but the cross is too long. City were briefly exposed there. Had the ball been better, the favourites would have been in a lot of bother.
City get the ball rolling. A fine atmosphere ringing around Wembley.
No pre-match word with Mauricio Pochettino, but no matter, because here come the teams! They emerge to roars, Cole Palmer having caught up with all his old pals in the tunnel. The exchanges all very friendly. Both sides wear blue: City in sky, Chelsea in royal. We’ll be off in a minute!
The BBC ask Pep Guardiola whether his team are ready to bounce back from the disappointment of Champions League defeat. “The team are not disappointed … when a team plays well we are never disappointed … we don’t have to feel sorry or ashamed for the way [we] perform … it is football, it is life … we are in a semi-final against a historical team like Chelsea so of course you have to perform well … winning or losing against Madrid we would do the same … [Erling Haaland] is injured … it is not much but he is not able to play today.”
All the pre-match patter. Includes news of Enzo Fernández carrying a hernia problem, and this season’s emergence of Cole Palmer.
The big news for Manchester City: Erling Haaland is out injured. Julián Álvarez takes his place up front. There are three other changes to the starting XI in the wake of Wednesday’s Champions League exit to Real Madrid: Stefan Ortega, John Stones and Nathan Aké come in for Ederson, Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol, all of whom drop to the bench.
Chelsea make just one change to the team that started Monday night’s 6-0 rout of Everton. Enzo Fernández comes in for Mykhailo Mudryk, who drops to the bench. Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke keep their places in Mauricio Pochettino’s one-for-all, all-for one penalty-taking collective.
The teams
Manchester City: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne, Grealish, Alvarez.
Subs: Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Matheus Luiz, Ederson, Bobb, Lewis.
Chelsea: Petrovic, Gusto, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Gallagher, Palmer, Madueke, Jackson.
Subs: Disasi, Badiashile, Sterling, Mudryk, Bettinelli, Chukwuemeka, Chilwell, Deivid Washington, Gilchrist.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Your City side! 🩵
XI | Ortega Moreno, Walker (C), Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez
SUBS | Ederson, Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/dT2NJRjyld
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 20, 2024
Preamble
Let’s give this semi-final a build-up commensurate with the level of respect the Football Association gives its own flagship competition. Here we go, then …
Kick off is at 5.15pm BST. It’s on.
