City’s unlikely £50m hero sinks plucky Southampton

Manchester City are going to Wembley, again.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

City will return here on 16 May to meet either Chelsea or Leeds in what will be their fourth successive FA Cup final. If all goes to plan in these final weeks, in this strange crescendo of a season, it will be the second piece in a treble of trophies for Pep Guardiola’s side.

On a warm, hazy evening in London, City won this semifinal 2-1 but only after coming through an almighty scare against Southampton, who came desperately close to a memorable upset. Saints had soaked up waves of pressure before hitting City with a late suckerpunch when Finn Azaz spun and swept a beautifully arcing shot into the top corner of James Trafford’s goal.

Southampton’s half of the stadium went off, and anything that could be launched into the air went in the air: balloons, hats, scarves, limbs. But the elation didn’t last. Jeremy Doku’s deflected shot brought City level three minutes later, before Nico Gonzalez thundered in City’s winner from long range.

It was the right result on the balance of play and yet Southampton will go away feeling they had a famous win snatched away, in this place, in this year of all years, 50 years after Bobby Stokes’s goal beat Manchester United to win the 1976 FA Cup, the club’s only major trophy in 140 years.