Clinical FA Cup semi-final victory puts Manchester City’s season back on track | OneFootball

It lacked the imagination or innovation of their Wembley counterparts, but the message from Manchester City supporters as they unfurled their pre-FA Cup semi-final tifo was crystal clear: City are back.

While Nottingham Forest supporters displayed their gothic-Robin Hood imagery, City fans mirrored their idols on the pitch in their clinical approach.

For 45 minutes, their claims had credence. It was not a performance for the ages, but that effortless imperiousness returned to a City side who made it their calling card throughout the Pep Guardiola era of all-out dominance.

In allowing a Forest side to hit the woodwork three times and cause so many problems from such a commanding position, their 2024-25 jitters are proving a little difficult to shift.

Yet, even for 45 minutes, to return to their previous levels of control and supremacy is a sign that, even if not for the entirety of a football match just yet, the City we feared they might be really are back. This was their sixth win in their last seven matches and booked them their third successive FA Cup final spot.

Around Wembley was a sea of Garibaldi red ahead of kick-off. Spotting a City shirt was like trying to find a blue needle in a crimson haystack down Wembley Way. Much has been made of the fact that the champions did not sell their full allocation for a cup semi-final, with Forest supporters basking in the feeling that they were strolling along the Trent to the City Ground for a normal Premier League encounter.

But, as Guardiola pointed out this week, this was Forest’s second match at Wembley since it reopened in 2007. It was City’s 28th at the “new” Wembley as a neutral venue, so City supporters can be forgiven for being happy to avoid the usual Sunday havoc at Euston.

In this season of seasons, those emblazoned in red were strangely confident as they took their seats. Few bubbles, however, have met their end quicker. Rico Lewis, deployed in an unfamiliar attacking midfield position, became the youngest City scorer at Wembley since 1981 – that Ricky Villa final – as he rifled home inside two minutes.

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It wasn't the semi-final the Forest fans had dreamed of (Getty)

Gameplan out the window. Forest rely on stifling opponents and allowing frustration to kick in before pouncing on the counter. In front, City could spend the rest of the first half doing what they do best – controlling possession at will.

Their box midfield shape proved almost unplayable. Mateo Kovacic dictated proceedings to his own beat, while Jack Grealish and Lewis, at the top of the box, picked up some really useful positions. The champions should, given their dominance, really have added to their advantage before half time.

Forest needed the break to regroup and rethink, and they appeared for the second half a different proposition altogether. Half-time substitute Anthony Elanga should have levelled just after the restart, before City upped the ante, just a touch, to extend their lead through Josko Gvardiol’s header from a corner.

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Morgan Gibbs-White had two big chances to get Forest back into the tie (Getty)

Forest’s chances kept coming, often through City’s own doing. After Elanga’s miss, Morgan Gibbs-White’s stunning volley would have been worthy of the grandest of stages had it been a few inches lower, before a Gvardiol mistake allowed the Forest talisman in for an opportunity he should have put away.

Taiwo Awoniyi was next to clatter the woodwork from close range. When Stefan Ortega clawed out the rebound, Forest knew it was not going to be their day.

The one trophy to elude Brian Clough will evade Forest for at least another year. Guardiola’s year to forget, nonetheless, can still end with silver on the table of the rich – not very Robin Hood at all.