Manchester City’s domestic treble dreams are still alive after they came from behind to defeat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final.
Manchester City booked their place in a fourth consecutive FA Cup final after defeating Southampton 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday.
Nico González was the matchwinner for City in the 87th minute, just eight minutes after Finn Azaz put the Saints ahead in a dramatic affair in London.
Leo Scienza thought he had given Southampton a shock lead in the 12th minute, but his celebrations were cut short after the linesman intervened for offside.
The first half was fairly quiet from there on in, with Daniel Peretz’s save to deny Omar Marmoush at the near post the only highlight, but City upped the pressure after the break.
The Saints were pinned inside their own box as Tijjani Reijnders curled narrowly wide, Marmoush shot over from close range and Savinho’s effort was parried away by Peretz.
However, after City failed to hit the back of the net with three shots in the space of six seconds, Azaz opened up his body and curled into the far corner from outside the box to stun the Premier League outfit.
That lead only lasted three minutes, though, as Jérémy Doku saw his shot deflect past Peretz off the outstretched leg of James Bree.
And City did not look back as Gonzalez thundered a long-range rocket into the top corner to break Southampton hearts, though they perhaps should have scored a third when Savinho saw an effort cleared off the line late on.
Man City 2-1 Southampton Stats
City’s pressure eventually told in the semi-final, with Pep Guardiola’s side producing 1.83 expected goals (xG) from 26 shots to Southampton’s 0.2 from four attempts.
Doku was at his free-flowing best for the Premier League side, creating a match-high five chances, while completing 11 of his 14 dribbles and winning 13 of his 16 duels (both match-highs) to go with his goal and assist.
Nico Gonzalez’s strike was scored from 30.1 yards out; the longest range goal by a City player this season.
Indeed, half of the Spaniard’s goals (2/4) in all competitions for City have come from outside the box.
Guardiola’s side are now the first team to reach the FA Cup final in four consecutive seasons, though they have won just one of their past three.
Man City 2-1 Southampton Timeline FA Cup
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Manchester City vs Southampton stats from their FA Cup semi-final meeting at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 25 April 2026.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Man City 2-1 Southampton Post-Match Facts
Manchester City have become the first ever side to qualify for four consecutive FA Cup finals.
Pep Guardiola has now won 45 of his 53 matches with Manchester City in the FA Cup, with his 85% win rate being the highest of any manager in the competition’s history – he has now qualified for five finals, only George Ramsay, Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have reached more (eight each)
Manchester City have now won each of their 22 FA Cup games against lower league teams since the start of 2018-19, the longest such streak of any top flight side in the competition’s history.
Excluding extra-time, Nico González’s winning strike after 86 minutes and 34 seconds was the latest winning goal scored in an FA Cup semi-final since Anthony Martial for Manchester United versus Everton in 2016 (92:04) – it was Manchester City’s longest range goal in any competition this season (30.1 metres).
Premier League Stats Opta
Enjoy this? Add Opta Analyst as a preferred source by clicking here.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over onX, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.