Man City beats Chelsea in FA Cup final after '1 in 100' Antoine Semenyo goal

LONDON (AP) — In its 155-year history the FA Cup final can rarely have been won by a more audacious goal.

Manchester City beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday thanks to a moment of magic from Antoine Semenyo.

The forward brought to life a final that had produced little in the way of chances or excitement with a spectacular back-heeled goal in the second half.

Running onto a cross from Erling Haaland in the 72nd minute, Semenyo flicked his heel at the ball and directed it low into the far corner past diving Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

“It has happened a couple of times in training, it happened perfectly today. ... It came straight to me and I had to improvise myself as quickly as I can," Semenyo told the BBC. “It is a good finish, I can’t lie."

Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane agreed.

“For me it’s a one in 100 goal," he said. “For me, no, there’s not much more you can do to defend it.”

Victory kept City in the hunt for a domestic trophy treble, having already won the English League Cup. Pep Guardiola’s team is also second in the Premier League, two points behind Arsenal with two rounds to go.

With an important game against Bournemouth on Tuesday, Guardiola said he would not allow his players “even one beer” in celebration.

This was Guardiola’s 17th major trophy in 10 years at City and his 35th in his career overall.

City has won the Cup eight times and moved level with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham as equal third on the all-time winners' list.

Defeat means Chelsea will end the season trophyless — a year after being crowned Club World Cup champion — in what has been a crisis-ridden campaign.

After firing two coaches since the turn of the year, Chelsea went into the final with a novice on the sideline in McFarlane, a former youth coach taking charge of only his seventh first team game.

The turmoil at Chelsea led to supporters staging a protest against its American owners outside the stadium before kickoff.

In that sense it was commendable that McFarlane was able to frustrate Guardiola for such long periods.

That was until Semenyo's match-winning moment.

The Ghana international joined City from Bournemouth only in January and made an immediate impact — scoring 10 goals and helping the team to two trophies.

“As a kid I have always wanted to be playing for the top teams. It took a long time to get there, but I am grateful,” Semenyo said. “The first thing he (Guardiola) said to me when I came was, ‘Don’t change your game’ ... he still wants me to be me, still create a bit of chaos."

After the final whistle City fans sang the club anthem “Blue Moon” loudly, and cheered wildly as Bernardo Silva and John Stones lifted the famous trophy. Both players are leaving at the end of the season.

“Being able to lift another trophy at Wembley, where we have played so many times, is such a special feeling, one I never take for granted,” Bernardo said. “To do so as captain makes this one of the best days of my career.”

Triumph for City came after back-to-back losses in the final in the previous two years. This was the record fourth year in a row it reached the final, having last won it in 2023.

Chelsea has lost its last four FA Cup finals, tying Leicester's record for consecutive losses.

Arsenal has won soccer's oldest knockout competition a record 14 times. Manchester United was second with 13.

Guardiola was congratulated by Prince William as he went to collect his winners' medal. Afterwards the City manager gazed around Wembley at the celebrating fans.

There has been growing speculation that this could be his final season at City; he has yet to confirm his plans.

“The future is bright,” Guardiola said. “I know the guys, I know how they feel ... next year we will be there, we will be better next season.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Manchester City players celebrate with the winner's trophy after the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo holds the winner's trophy after the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City players celebrate with the winner's trophy after the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva celebrates after Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo scoring the opening goal during the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo celebrates after winning the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, left, celebrates with teammates after winning the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo, left, scores the opening goal during the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (top) celebrates with team-mate Wesley Fofana after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola, left, celebrates with Manchester City's Rayan Cherki at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace in Manchester, England, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Over the last month, Democratic socialists have notched victories in the liberal strongholds of New York City, Washington, D.C., and Denver.

Now Francesca Hong, a single mother who has worked as a dishwasher and line cook, is trying to do the same with her campaign for governor in Wisconsin, a swing state known for razor-thin election margins where winning over moderate, independent voters is crucial.

Hong's candidacy has turned the Democratic primary on Aug. 11 into the latest test of just how far left voters are willing to go in the November midterms.

“We do this in Wisconsin, we’re going to change politics across the country,” the 37-year-old Hong said as she headed into the final month of campaigning. "People who are frustrated and have a lot more to lose — and I’m one of those people — are ready to coalesce around someone they can believe in.”

John Ravdabaugh, an undecided independent voter, came away impressed after hearing Hong speak at the retirement home where he lives. Even though the democratic socialist label concerns him, Ravdabaugh said he would consider voting for Hong.

“Every system reaches a point where change is necessary,” he said.

Whoever wins the primary will advance to almost certainly face Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, one of the most conservative members of the House, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Tiffany has only token opposition in the primary.

The governor's race is integral to Democrats’ hopes of earning full control of Wisconsin state government for the first time since 2010, and it will send a signal about where the country's politics are headed by shaping a key political battleground that helps decide presidential campaigns.

Tiffany has focused much of his criticism on Hong and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, another Democratic candidate for governor.

“This November, the choice is common sense or crazy,” Tiffany posted on social media in June. Tiffany included screenshots of a Barnes post where he voiced support for cutting prison populations by half and Hong's posts where she advocates for defunding and abolishing the police.

As a candidate, Hong has not backed away from her calls to defund and abolish the police. Hong also supports increasing taxes on the wealthy and creating a state-owned bank to help pay for free health care and free child care, a $20 minimum wage, and a moratorium on data center construction.

Hong dismisses concerns that she’s too liberal to win over key independent voters in a state Trump carried twice and narrowly lost a third time.

“I worry that’s a miscalculation of where voters are at in our state, that we’re underestimating what people want,” Hong said in an interview.

Last month, democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, setting herself up to clinch the office in November.

Then three congressional candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, another democratic socialist, defeated establishment-backed politicians.

And just last week, democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Colorado primary, a stunning victory for the 29-year-old, first-time candidate against an incumbent who took office before she was born.

But those victories have been in either congressional or mayoral races in large urban centers, a far different landscape than Wisconsin.

In 1910, during socialism’s heyday in the United States, Milwaukee sent the first socialist to Congress and was the first major American city to elect a socialist mayor. Milwaukee elected two more socialist mayors before 1960.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, perhaps the best known democratic socialist, won all but one county in Wisconsin in the 2016 Democratic primary. In 2023, two state lawmakers from Milwaukee revived the socialist caucus in the Legislature, which had been dormant since 1935.

Hong, the first Asian American elected to the state Assembly in 2020, is one of four members of that caucus.

Barnes, 39, served four years in the state Assembly before his four years as lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. In 2022, Barnes came within 27,000 votes of ousting Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

“I’ve been around longer than anybody fighting these fights,” said Barnes, who grew up in Milwaukee and is vying to become Wisconsin's first Black governor.

He played down the idea that democratic socialists are surging.

“People aren’t looking for labels, necessarily,” he said. “People are looking for bold solutions.”

Longtime Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki, who is not working for any of the Democrats running this year, said Barnes has an advantage as the most well-known candidate in the race.

“I have believed from the day since Mandela Barnes got into the race, he's the favorite,” Zepecki said. “It is his race to lose.”

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a former nurse and health care executive who is also running for the Democratic nomination, said she'll have broader appeal in November. She cites her experience in the private sector and her flipping of a state Assembly seat in a conservative Milwaukee suburb, and she emphasizes her ideas for lowering costs for working people.

“I’m not worried about other candidates in this race,” Rodriguez said in an interview. “What I’m worried about is making my argument to Wisconsinites about why I’m the best person to lead the state, how I am going to fight for them."

She launched a $1 million television ad campaign this week that features her in nursing scrubs talking about taking on Tiffany and lowering health care costs.

Other Democratic candidates are state Sen. Kelda Roys, who has the endorsement of the statewide teachers union, and Joel Brennan, a former top aide to Evers.

Missy Hughes, the state’s former economic development director, dropped out of the race in June and endorsed Rodriguez. David Crowley, the top elected official in Milwaukee County, dropped out this week and also backed Rodriguez.

More moderate Democrats worry that nominating Hong could hurt them in the general election, especially in Wisconsin where independent voters are key in statewide races that are often decided by tiny margins.

Neera Tanden, who leads the Center for American Progress, said "it’s especially important in the age of Trump” to select viable candidates.

“In Wisconsin, whoever wins the general election will be the person overseeing elections in 2028 and whether people are seated in 2029.”

Evers won his two races for governor by just over 1 percentage point in 2018 and just over 3 points in 2022. Trump won Wisconsin by less than a point in 2024, and lost by less than a point in 2020.

Dave Smith, 72, a retired doctor from Madison who heard Hong speak Tuesday, said the democratic socialist label will be tough for voters of his generation to accept.

“The platform, much of that resonates well,” said Smith, who is undecided whom he will vote for in the Democratic primary. “My vote will likely go to who is the most electable in the fall.”

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

FILE - Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes concedes to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson at a news conference Nov. 9, 2022, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Francesca Hong, a Democratic socialist candidate for Wisconsin governor, speaks to voters at a retirement home, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)