IMAGE: Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol scores their second goal against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley Stadium, London, Britain, on Sunday. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images via Reuters
Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday to reach their third straight FA Cup final, with goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol keeping alive City’s hopes of avoiding a rare season without a trophy.
Lewis scored inside two minutes when he was fed by the influential Mateo Kovacic and given time and space to fire into the bottom corner and silence the Forest fans.
Conceding an early goal was certainly not in the gameplan for Forest, who struggled to gain a foothold in the first half, registering just 25% possession and no shots on goal.
“We started really badly, City started really well,” Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo told reporters, adding that conceding so early “makes everything hard”.
The halftime introduction of Anthony Elanga almost turned the tie for Forest, but he scuffed Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross wide with his first touch in the 46th minute.
City punished the miss five minutes later when Gvardiol rose highest to nod home an Omar Marmoush corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Forest, seeking to reach their first FA Cup final since 1991, went close to pulling one back with Morgan Gibbs-White cannoning a volley off the bar with City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega beaten.
“I’ve never hit a ball as sweetly on my weak foot in my life,” Gibbs-White told ITV. “As soon as that hit the crossbar I knew it wasn’t going to be our day.”
IMAGE: Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in action with Manchester City’s Rico Lewis. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images via Reuters
Gibbs-White hit the post again with 20 minutes to play after Gvardiol was caught in possession, rounding Ortega but unable to finish from a tight angle.
“I’m devastated,” Gibbs-White said. “I feel sorry for the fans. I hold my hands up and apologise, I should’ve scored at least one of them.”
Substitute Taiwo Awoniyi also hit the woodwork before Gibbs-White’s follow-up header was saved by Ortega, as Forest fans began to feel it was just not their day.
City then comfortably closed the game out and victory in their record-extending seventh consecutive FA Cup semi-final means they will face Crystal Palace, who beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday, in the final on May 17.
It has been a poor season by City’s extraordinary standards, currently well behind Premier League champions Liverpool and scrapping for a Champions League spot rather than fighting for an unprecedented fifth straight league title.
City have only once finished a season without a trophy under Pep Guardiola — which was in the Spaniard’s first season in charge in 2016/17.
Player-of-the-match Kovacic saw the positives in City’s late-season run, telling ITV: “This season has not been how we wanted but we are in another FA Cup final and in the top four.”
But Guardiola, asked if another FA Cup triumph and securing Champions League football next term would make for a good season, was emphatic.
“No,” he told reporters with a rueful smile. “This season has not been good. We are a thousand, million points behind Liverpool.”
Forest’s Nuno, meanwhile, stressed that their exceptional season – which may still end with an unlikely top-five finish – gives their fans plenty to shout about.
“Today is a sad day,” he said. “It’s going to be hard, but tomorrow when you wake up and the sadness is gone … you are going to know that we have big things ahead of us to fight for.”
