Football Daily | Manchester City v Chelsea: get ready for a Wembley FFP derby showpiece

THE ROAD, ER, BACK TO WEMBLEY

Given that the two teams contesting this season’s FA Cup final face more than 200 outstanding counts of financial chicanery between them, the atmosphere at Wembley will – as several Social Media Disgrace wags quickly pointed out – definitely be highly charged. In the blue corner, Chelsea still face 74 FA counts of financial misconduct, having already had their wrist lightly slapped by the Premier League. In the lighter blue corner, Manchester City continue to go about their business, apparently impervious to the outcome of the inquiry into the 130 or so charges of money-related shenanigans that may or may not be released before the next sighting of Halley’s Comet in 35 years. While this season’s renewal of the oldest cup competition in the world had more than its fair share of magic in the form of muddy pitches and giantkillings, it’s not unreasonable to think that some fans will go to Wembley on 16 May more preoccupied by the outcome of forensic audits and arbitration hearings than by the actual final being played.

While Football Daily is not one to relish pointing the finger, we blame Ally McCoist. Called upon to conduct the draw for this season’s semis, the former Scotland striker had the proverbial “just one job” of pitting Leeds against Southampton so that one was guaranteed a place in the final, but he met his match in an FA tombola that was inured to his legendary charm. The outcome? A Wembley FFP derby showpiece that is likely to be greeted with a collective shoulder-shrug from everyone without affiliations to either team and may suffer the indignity of not even selling out. “The reality of football is that you get some praise for a performance but by tomorrow no one cares,” sighed Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert, following his side’s spirited showing against a Manchester City team that was able to call on the likes of Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Bernardo Silva from the bench. “We wanted to go to the final and we didn’t make it,” he added, before his side’s crucial league match against comparative church mice and promotion rivals Ipswich on Tuesday evening.

While Leeds will be disappointed not to have given a decent account of themselves in Sunday’s drab semi-final defeat against Chelsea, it was telling that Robert Sánchez was the only goalkeeper forced into making some impressive saves in between running down the clock. Having helped see off Liam Rosenior by downing tools in recent appearances, a rejuvenated Enzo Fernández helped win the game with a performance that spoke volumes about his character, albeit in an uncomplimentary way. “We come away disappointed,” parped Leeds boss Daniel Farke. “You could tell the players were a bit nervous, so much was made of this game. It’s also not that the players are used to playing in front of 90,000 on [Bigger Cup] level once a week. They were a bit nervous to be at their best level.” Now we await the final between two English footballing behemoths – may the best legal team win.