Man City 2-1 Southampton: Doku & Nico earn comeback win, City into FA Cup final

Game is over and the final score is Man City 2-1 Southampton. Here is the match report.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

5' Reijnders hits his effort on the bar, but Marmoush is flagged offside

11' Marmoush tries his luck and takes a shot, but his effort is blocked

13' Leo Scienza puts the ball into the net, but he is flagged for offside

17' Marmoush dribbles into the box but the ball is cleared before taking a shot

20' Kovacic shoots inside the box, but it flies just wide of the left post

34' Marmoush finds himself one-on-one with the keeper, but his effort is denied

36' Reijnders latches onto a cross and volleys the ball, but it goes wide

43' Nunes requires treatment, so the ref signals for the physio to come onto pitch

49' Marmoush collects a pass inside the box and shoots, but the effort is blocked

52' Matheus Nunes clips a cross into the box, but no one is in position to get it

58' Foden and Kovacic walk off the pitch and to be replaced by Doku and Savinho

59' Reijnders shoots after receiving a good pass but his effort goes just wide

60' Marmoush takes a short pass inside the box, but hits a poor shot that goes high

64' Cherki plays a cross but Marmoush fails to get to the end of it

66' A fan is caught by the camera and he seems to fall a sleep

71' O'Reilly and Haaland on, Ait-Nouri and Marmoush off

73' Reijnders gets to the rebound and smashes the ball just wide of the post

79' GOAL! Finn Azaz collects a pass and slams the ball in! Man City 0-1 Southampton

83' GOAL! Doku's shot takes deflectiob & goes into the net! Man City 1-1 Southampton

87' GOAL! Man City 2-1 Southampton (Nico González)

Match Report

Nico Gonzalez 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 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.

Data Debrief: Doku delivers for City

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, 50 per cent 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.

Line-ups

Man City XI: Kovacic, Ake, Stones, Foden, Omar Marmoush, Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Matheus Nunes, Nico González, James Trafford, Cherki

Subs: Bernardo Silva, Donnarumma, Haaland, Guehi, Doku, Lewis, Savinho, Nico O'Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov

Southampton XI: James Bree, Ross Stewart, Finn Azaz, Peretz, Nathan Wood, Harwood-Bellis, Welington, Tom Fellows, Léo Scienza, Cameron Bragg, Caspar Jander

Subs: George Long, Cyle Larin, Cameron Archer, Samuel Edozie, Shea Charles, Elias Jelert, Joshua Quarshie, Kuryu Matsuki, Jay Robinson