Man City: Pep Guardiola hails Mateo Kovacic for 'extraordinary' run of form to inspire FA Cup final return

Evening Standard

·27 aprile 2025

Man City: Pep Guardiola hails Mateo Kovacic for 'extraordinary' run of form to inspire FA Cup final return

Man City reach FA Cup final for third successive season

Star man: Mateo Kovacic won the player of the match award at Wembley

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Pep Guardiola hailed another “extraordinary’ performance from Mateo Kovacic as Manchester City booked their place in the FA Cup final.

City will be in the Wembley showpiece for the third season in a row after a 2-0 semi-final win over Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol.

Kovacic provided the assist for Lewis’ opener inside the first two minutes and he controlled the game in midfield, unsurprisingly being named player of the match.

Asked whether the 30-year-old was in the best form of his City career, Guardiola responded: “Yeah. The last three or four games have been extraordinary.

“We’re lucky to have time to recover. The rhythm he plays and the way he plays, he cannot play every three days.

“But of course the quality that he has and the composure is extraordinary.”

City will face Crystal Palace in the final on May 17 as they look to end a frustrating season on a high, before turning their attention to this summer’s Club World Cup.

The two sides met in the Premier League only a fortnight ago and City came out on top in a thrilling 5-2 win, but they fell two goals behind in that match as Palace made clear the threat they possess in attack.

"Just take a look at what they did yesterday,” Guardiola said of the Eagles’ 3-0 semi-final win over Aston Villa on Saturday.

“We played them a few weeks ago and were 2-0 [down]. The pace they have up front and they have an extraordinary manager.

“They have so much physicality and experience. Hopefully it will be better than last season in the final against Manchester United."

City were beaten in the final last season by their big rivals and will be hoping for a very different outcome this time, but Guardiola had a firm response when asked if FA Cup glory and Champions League qualification would represent a good campaign.

“No,” the City boss said.

“We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool. Look at the Champions League, we won two or three games.”