Manchester City's route to FA Cup final 2024-25

City will play their third FA Cup final in a row.

The remaining two teams have seen their names finalised for the Emirates FA Cup final after Manchester City and Crystal Palace secured their spots in this season’s highlight.

On Saturday, May 17, the Eagles will attempt to capture the trophy for the first time in their history in the final, while Manchester City, the seven-time champions of the competition, are seeking the trophy after losing to rivals Manchester United at Wembley last year.

We examine City’s journey to the final here.

Manchester City’s road to the FA Cup 2024-25 final

Manchester City 8-0 Salford City [3rd Round]

City began their 2024–25 FA Cup campaign at home against Salford City, recording their greatest win since January 2019. City put up a strong show against the League Two team. Academy graduate James McAtee took home the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in the second half.

In that game, we also saw Jack Grealish making the scoresheet for the first time in more than a year. In the 8-0 triumph at home, Nico O’Reilly scored his debut goal for the team, Divin Mubama joined in, and Jeremy Doku scored two goals.

Leyton Orient 1-2 Manchester City [4th Round]

The O’s took an unexpected lead in the first few minutes of the match. But Pep Guardiola’s team rallied in the fourth round to avoid elimination against EFL rival Leyton Orient. Abdukodir Khusanov, who joined the Cityzens in January, opened the scoring with an equaliser in the second half.

Kevin De Bruyne then made it 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining.

Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth [5th Round]

When Guardiola’s team faced the Pilgrims, another EFL team in the Championship, Plymouth Argyle’s FA Cup journey came to an end. The EFL side had defeated another Premier League powerhouse on their way to the fifth round.

City had to rally from behind once more. Nico O’Reilly was there to keep the team from making an unexpected exit. Before adding a second after the interval to change the course, the youthful player tied the score on the stroke of halftime.

Late in the day, Kevin De Bruyne sealed City’s quarterfinal spot by making it 3-1.

Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City [Quarter finals]

It was not the first time in this season’s tournament that City had to come up with a solution to win after falling behind. Guardiola’s team had all to do when Bournemouth broke the impasse in their quarterfinal match with 21 minutes on the clock. Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland’s goals in the second half cemented the win.

Haaland rattled the net in the 49th minute after his penalty was saved in the first period. Substitute Marmoush scored the game-winning goal with 63 minutes on the clock.

Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City [Semi-finals]

Manchester City defeated Nottingham Forest in the semi-final. Just 109 seconds into the match at Wembley, Rico Lewis, who was born in Bury and has been with the team since he was eight years old, gave City the lead with a fast-paced finish.

Josko Gvardiol, a defender for the Cityzens, provided Pep Guardiola’s team some breathing room in the 51st minute and sealed their place in the final.

Manchester City’s road to the #EmiratesFACup Final 🩵 pic.twitter.com/SJuPAXbyyE

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) May 14, 2025

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