City Down Forest, Pep Stresses Premier League Consistency

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Rico Lewis’s early goal and Josko Gvardiol’s second-half strike secured a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Wembley, booking City’s place in the final against Crystal Palace on May 17.

However, Guardiola was clear when asked if winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions League would make the season a success. He said, “No, and I have said that many times.

This season has not been good. We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool, so come on, this season has not been good.”

He pointed to City’s poor Champions League run, adding, “Look at the Champions League. How many games did we win? One or two? And we have always been a machine in that.”

Guardiola stressed, “Of course, the damage would be minor (if City win the FA Cup) but we cannot confuse that the season has been good if we finish in the top five and qualify for the Champions League. The club has to take the decisions, the right ones, for next season to be better.”

City trail champions Liverpool by 21 points and sit fourth in the Premier League, just one point ahead of Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, who have a game in hand.

Despite the league struggles, Guardiola acknowledged the club’s consistency in reaching finals. “Being in another final speaks so highly about the volume of generation of players and this club. And we are very pleased we are in the final.”

He added, “But the season is defined by the Premier League and being consistent and this season that couldn’t happen.”

“The most important thing is qualification for the Champions League and we have to be calm now and recover. We have four finals to play, and then an unbelievable game against Palace, and we saw yesterday how good they are.”

Nottingham Forest started slowly but improved after halftime, hitting the woodwork three times. Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said, “We started really badly, and City started well. And it made everything hard.”

He added, “In the second half, the momentum changed, we had a couple of chances, and the game could have been a different story.”

“We have big things ahead of us to fight for. Today is tough because we put a lot of effort into the FA Cup. But tomorrow when we wake up, and we see what is ahead of us, it can only bring us more energy for the last games of the season.”