{"id":606273,"date":"2026-04-25T21:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T21:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606273\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T21:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T21:04:08","slug":"manchester-city-pull-off-comeback-win-against-southampton-to-reach-fa-cup-final-fa-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/606273\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City pull off comeback win against Southampton to reach FA Cup final | FA Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a barnstorming finish to this FA Cup semi-final, which featured three goals in eight minutes and ended with Nico Gonz\u00e1lez as the hero who swept Manchester City<\/a> to a historic fourth consecutive final.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard\u2019s winner came in the 87th minute. Bernardo Silva, only just introduced by Pep Guardiola, tapped to J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku, who fed Gonz\u00e1lez. From outside Southampton\u2019s area, to the left, the midfielder let go a rising 30-yard shot that rocketed into the net and left Tonda Eckert\u2019s team heartbroken, having taken the lead not long before.<\/p>\n

This came when Finn Azaz appeared to seize a moment of classic Cup glory in the 79th minute. The No 10 received the ball to his left foot before, 25 yards out, swivelling and curling a peach with his right that flew beyond the flailing James Trafford high and to his left.<\/p>\n

Finn Azaz gives Southampton the lead from long range. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Yet as Eckert\u2019s side hit ecstasy and their fans sang: \u201cWhen the Saints go marching in,\u201d City did what City do. Doku, also a substitute, danced from the left to a central zone and hit an equaliser that beat Daniel Peretz, Southampton\u2019s goalkeeper, to his left due to a deflection off James Bree.<\/p>\n

Cue more delirium, now in the sky blue zone, though Kuryu Matsuki nearly grabbed an instantaneous Saints\u2019 second when Ekhert\u2019s defiant unit moved upfield, Trafford leaping up and back to tip the effort over.<\/p>\n

The Championship team, unbeaten in 20 matches beforehand, also rallied via two corners but a Doku break after Rayan Cherki\u2019s pass that took him from City\u2019s half to Southampton\u2019s then created an opening for Savinho, whose attempt was cleared off the line.<\/p>\n

In seven minutes of added time both teams might have scored again as the chaotic close to the tie continued. Yet when Craig Pawson blew for time it was City who were rapturous, and those in the yellow of the club\u2019s famous Cup win of 50 years ago bereft.<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola hugged Eckert and offered a word to the 33-year-old former Barnsley assistant manager, but truly what could he say to comfort a man six months into a first head-coach role who came so close to piloting the south-coast club to a famous victory?<\/p>\n

The German was left deeply disappointed and proud \u2013 as his players should be too \u2013 and he immediately targeted Tuesday\u2019s penultimate Championship match, the visit of Ipswich: beat the second-place team and Saints will rise to 79 points, only one behind the Tractor Boys.<\/p>\n

Evidence of how near Saints came to victory was found in City ending the tie with Erling Haaland, Nico O\u2019Reilly, Doku and Bernardo Silva all on the pitch, as the quartet began on the bench.<\/p>\n

Eckert\u2019s unit was a force from minute 1-97, taking the contest to City and so enjoying far more possession and territory than expected. Saints\u2019 shrewd head coach operated a five-man defence that at times went to six and frustrated City, who were disjointed, due also to Guardiola\u2019s wholesale changes.<\/p>\n

Southampton fans watch their FA Cup dream fade. Photograph: Cameron Smith\/The FA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The manager named \u201cadorable\u201d John Stones as the captain of an XI showing nine new players from the midweek win at Burnley<\/a>, and which he configured in a 4-3-2-1 that had room for both Cherki<\/a> and Phil Foden, as the double pivot behind Omar Marmoush. Yet by the break this was discarded, with Foden moved to a right-wing berth, Cherki now City\u2019s sole No 10.<\/p>\n

Saints had scored early on but after L\u00e9o Scienza beat Trafford he was ruled offside to the No 1\u2019s relief. Here was a flash of the \u201cbravery\u201d Eckert spoke of and there was a pugnaciousness, too, about Saints\u2019 play, as when Caspar Jander challenged Foden, leaving him on the turf.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the second half Eckert could inform his team to keep on as they were: keep looking for Scienza, particularly, whose pace troubled City in the absence of the lightning Abdukodir Khusanov.<\/p>\n

Television showed more than one fan in the sparsely filled City section napping at the break. This being the club\u2019s 23rd visit to Wembley under Guardiola might excuse both these occurrences, but all were awake for the grandstand finish. Now City wait to see who of Chelsea or Leeds they will face in the final, back here next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a barnstorming finish to this FA Cup semi-final, which featured three goals in eight minutes and ended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-606273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}