Chelsea edged out by City in semi-final

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Chelsea 1 Manchester City 2

Chelsea lost their grip on the FA Cup in a pulsating semi-final at Wembley.

Samir Nasri’s opener and Sergio Aguero’s header secured victory for Manchester City, who will face Wigan in the final.

Last season’s winners hit back with a fine strike from Demba Ba midway through the second half, but the Premier League champions held on.

City dominated much of the first half and deservedly went in front 10 minutes before the break.

Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea
Ivanovic was at fault for City’s second.

Following Yaya Toure’s storming run towards the penalty area, Aguero laid the ball off to Nasri and a fortuitous ricochet teed the France international up to shoot past Petr Cech.

Chelsea keeper Cech had produced an excellent early save low down to his right after Gareth Barry’s shot had been helped on by Toure and then Aguero.

Cech was called into action again when he palmed away a shot from Carlos Tevez following a lovely City move.

The west London side, with stalwarts Frank Lampard and John Terry left on the bench, responded with a spell of pressure.

And they almost took the lead when Vincent Kompany headed Eden Hazard’s goal-bound effort off the line after keeper Costel Pantilimon failed to deal with Juan Mata’s right-wing free-kick.

But just as Chelsea seemed to be getting a foothold in the match, they went behind.

And they found themselves 2-0 down less than two minutes into the second half.

Barry crossed from the right and Aguero sneaked behind Branislav Ivanovic to head home.

With his team facing an uphill task, interim manager Rafael Benitez sent Fernando Torres on in place of John Obi Mikel.

And just 11 seconds later, Chelsea were back in it.

The ball was launched forward by David Luiz and after Torres’ challenge prevented Kompany from fully clearing, Ba hooked a brilliant volley beyond Pantilimon and in off the far post.

But Chelsea were unable to find an equaliser and Ba missed a good chance when he fired straight at Pantilimon after being set up by Mata.

And they felt they should have been awarded a late penalty after Torres had his shirt tugged by Kompany.

Chelsea 4-2-3-1: Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Bertrand; Ramires, Mikel (Torres 65); Oscar; Hazard, Mata; Ba,
Subs not used: Turnbull, Lampard, Torres, Moses, Terry, Benayoun, Ake.

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