Manchester City withstood a valiant fightback from Chelsea to win a gripping FA Cup semi-final 2-1 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday and knock the holders out of the competition. Goals in each half from Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero put City in control, but Chelsea replied through Demba Ba, only for Roberto Mancini's men to resist the holders' desperate search for an equaliser.
Fifteen points behind Manchester United in the Premier League, City seem destined to relinquish their league crown, but they will be strong favourites to defeat Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final on May 11 and reclaim the trophy they won in 2011. "I said before the game, it would be difficult because Chelsea are in a good moment, but we deserved to win," said City manager Mancini.
"Now we have to win the final and finish second in the championship - that is our target." For Chelsea, there will be no fifth FA Cup in seven seasons, and although there is the consolation of a Europa League semi-final with Basel, interim manager Rafael Benitez will hope his tired squad still have enough energy for the battle to win a Champions League place.
Benitez was aggrieved that substitute Fernando Torres was not awarded a late penalty after going down under a challenge from Vincent Kompany. "Was it a penalty? Yes, clearly. Very clearly. You can see the pictures. We have two situations like that in the second half," he said.
"But we played against a very good team. If they had scored another, the game would have been over. But we keep going and we had chances to be back in the game, so these decisions were very important." In stark contrast to Saturday's first semi-final between Wigan and Millwall, which took place beneath steady drizzle and in front of nearly 27,000 empty seats, Sunday's game was a sell-out played amid balmy spring temperatures.
City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon was rewarded with a starting place for his performances earlier in the tournament, while Demba Ba returned to the Chelsea line-up after an ankle injury. City started with intent and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech had to produce a smart early save to deny Aguero when he prodded the ball goalwards after Gareth Barry's shot was helped on by Yaya Toure.
The Czech goalkeeper also repelled a near-post effort from Carlos Tevez, before Chelsea began to assert themselves. Kompany came to City's rescue in the 23rd minute, heading the ball off the line after Eden Hazard's volley into the turf looped over Pantilimon, who had come for a cross and missed. The Chelsea revival proved short-lived, however, and 10 minutes before half-time, City went ahead.