Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City: Lewis and Gvardiol book FA Cup final date with Palace

Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol were on target as Manchester City defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley to book their place in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.

City were celebrating inside two minutes on Sunday as Lewis span on the turn and placed a well-struck effort into the bottom-left corner from inside the D.

Nico O'Reilly evaded two Forest challenges and shot wide of the right post from 25 yards in what would have been a sensational effort, as the Tricky Trees found themselves overwhelmed.

Indeed, it was not until early in the second half they had their first shot, and it should have been a goal as substitute Anthony Elanga woefully side-footed wide from eight yards after great work from Callum Hudson- Odoi.

City punished Forest at the other end in a frantic spell that saw Mateo Kovacic have a shot saved on the line by Mats Selz, and having handball shouts from Zach Abbott go unheard.

From the resulting corner, Gvardiol thumped a header into the top-right corner from Omar Marmoush's delivery.

Morgan Gibbs-White smashed a sumptuous volley against the crossbar, then struck the left post after rounding Stefan Ortega having pounced on a Gvardiol error.

Forest's luck was out again when Taiwo Awoniyi also hit the woodwork and Ortega parried away Gibbs-White's point blank header, as City held firm to reach a third straight FA Cup final.

20 - With today's opening goal, Rico Lewis (20y 157d) became the youngest player to score for Manchester City at Wembley since Steve MacKenzie in May 1981 (19y 172d in the FA Cup final v Tottenham). Blue. pic.twitter.com/5q6e3d2yqM
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 27, 2025

Data Debrief: Lewis emulates MacKenzie

It was a memorable day for Lewis, who netted just his fifth City goal.

Aged 20 years and 157 days, he became the youngest player to score for City at Wembley since Steve MacKenzie, who was 19 years and 172 days old when he scored in the 1981 FA Cup final against Tottenham.

Meanwhile, Gvardiol's goal was his 11th for City across all competitions, representing the joint-most by a defender for a Premier League club since the start of last season, along with Newcastle United's Fabian Schar.

Marmoush earned the assist for Gvardiol's goal and he has 41 goal contributions in all competitions this season, a tally bettered only by Liverpool ace Mohamed Salad (55) among current Premier League players.

This win means City have reached a third consecutive FA Cup final and are, consequently, the first team to reach the final of both major domestic trophies in three successive seasons, having made the EFL Cup showpiece four years running between 2018 and 2021.