Bernardo Silva, of all people, shoots Manchester City to the FA Cup final

Manchester City qualified for the FA Cup final on Saturday. Pep Guardiola's team defeated Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley. The scorer was Bernardo Silva, who earlier this week was the schlemiel in the quarter-final of the Champions League against Real Madrid with a horrible penalty.

Notable absent from City's side was Erling Braut Haaland. The Norwegian striker was not fit enough and did not even appear on the scoresheet. Julián Álvarez was therefore allowed to show it from the starting signal. There was also a starting place for Nathan Aké.

On the Chelsea side, there was, of course, a starting place for Cole Palmer. The Premier League's top scorer shot Everton to pieces in midweek with four goals in the 6-0 home win. The midfielder has twenty goals in competition.

Interesting detail: Palmer was already accurate at Wembley this season. That happened in August, when he was still employed by Manchester City. The Englishman scored the 0-1 in the battle for the Community Shield against Arsenal, which was lost on penalties.

City and Chelsea tightened their thumbscrews from the first whistle, creating an attractive display and chances for both teams. The biggest chances were for Chelsea, but no goals were scored.

Nicolas Jackson had an opportunity to give Chelsea the lead after half an hour of play. The striker only went for Stefan Ortega, but completely botched it. On behalf of City, Kevin De Bruyne enabled Phil Foden to score, but he also failed to finish.

After the break it was Jackson again who was launched by Chelsea. The Senegalese enjoyed a free passage, but was overtaken at the last minute by Kyle Walker, whose push in the back was just enough to prevent a penalty.

Both teams continued to look for openings in the other's defense. For example, a Foden shot on a pass from Jack Grealish was saved by Djordjo Petrovic and the Serbian also made a good save on a bet by Jeremy Doku.

While the game then seemed to be headed to extra time, it was Bernardo Silva who gave City the victory. The Portuguese, who was the schlemiel in the quarter-finals of the Champions League earlier this week, shot in at the far post.

Silva was one of the players who missed for City in the return against Real Madrid. The attack on the attacking midfielder was therefore great. City will face the winner of the match between Manchester United and Coventry City in the final (Sunday, 4:30 PM).

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