Semenyo backheel gives Manchester City FA Cup win over Chelsea

Antoine Semenyo’s improvised backheel in the 72nd minute was enough to decide a final that never yielded much margin for error, giving Manchester City a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium and another reminder of how often Pep Guardiola’s side can survive the tightest of games.

Erling Haaland sent in the cross and Semenyo met it with a deft near-post flick, turning a half-chance into the only goal before an attendance of 83,337 in London. City had already seen one effort ruled out for offside, and Chelsea kept pushing for an equaliser, but neither side found another breakthrough in a match described as tight and tense from start to finish.

The result delivered City’s eighth FA Cup and completed the domestic cup double after their League Cup success earlier in the season. It also added another landmark for Guardiola, who became the first manager in English football history to complete the domestic cup double twice, a measure of how his teams keep finding ways to win whether the game opens up or shuts down.

For Chelsea, the defeat extended a grim Wembley pattern. The loss was their fourth showpiece defeat since last lifting the trophy in 2018, and their record seventh consecutive domestic cup final defeat at Wembley. Interim manager Calum McFarlane led a Chelsea side that was described as FIFA Club World Cup holders, yet City’s ability to absorb pressure and strike at one decisive moment proved the difference again.

City’s official FA Cup coverage named Semenyo player of the match, and that felt fitting for a final shaped by one sharp invention inside a game of fine details. In a season that already delivered the League Cup, the FA Cup win reinforced the broader picture of a squad built not just to dominate, but to survive low-margin football when the trophies are decided by a single touch.