Manchester City reached their third straight FA Cup final after defeating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday with goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol keeping alive City's hopes of avoiding a rare season without a trophy.
Lewis scored inside two minutes when he was fed by Mateo Kovacic and given time and space to fire into the bottom corner and silence the Forest fans.
Conceding an early goal was certainly not in the gameplan for Forest, who struggled to gain a foothold in the first half, registering just 25 per cent possession and no shots on goal.
The halftime introduction of Anthony Elanga almost turned the tide for Forest, but he scuffed Callum Hudson-Odoi's cross wide with his first touch in the 46th minute.
City punished the miss five minutes later when Gvardiol rose highest to nod home an Omar Marmoush corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.
The win gives Pep Guardiola's team a chance to salvage something from a disappointing campaign where their hopes of a fifth straight Premier League title disappeared early and they failed to even reach the round of 16 in the Champions League.
City will play Crystal Palace in the final on May 17.
Liverpool clinched the Premier League title at the same time as City were playing, and even an FA Cup title would be a mere consolation for a club that has dominated English football under Guardiola.
Still, it was a moment to celebrate for City.
"It was a good start. The way we played we did not allow them to make much transitions where they are so dangerous. They also did not arrive much in the final third with the crosses with Wood and so on," Guardiola told ITV.
"In the game they had chances, this is a team that with a game in hand is better than us in the PL. They created a bit more than in the game we played there one or two months ago [in the Premier League]. They are a great team. In general I liked most of the things that we did.
"Seven semi-finals in a row and three finals in a row years...Not bad!"
City hero Lewis was happy to have played his part.
"I had a feeling I was going to score today, speaking to all my mates on my phone, but obviously not that early. I just thought 'hit it and see what happens'. As soon as it left my foot I felt like it was going to go in," he told BBC Sport.
Asian Cup 2019
Quarter-final
UAE v Australia, Friday, 8pm, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Overview
Cricket World Cup League Two: Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
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MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Grand Slam Los Angeles results
Men:
56kg – Jorge Nakamura
62kg – Joao Gabriel de Sousa
69kg – Gianni Grippo
77kg – Caio Soares
85kg – Manuel Ribamar
94kg – Gustavo Batista
110kg – Erberth Santos
Women:
49kg – Mayssa Bastos
55kg – Nathalie Ribeiro
62kg – Gabrielle McComb
70kg – Thamara Silva
90kg – Gabrieli Pessanha
HWJN
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
