The idea for Manchester City had been to channel the anguish from the midweek Champions League quarter-final exit against Real Madrid into something more positive and it surely applied most strongly to one of their number. Bernardo Silva had been a snapshot in so many negative emotions after his terrible penalty in the shootout with Madrid had turned the tide sharply against his team. This is what redemption looks like. Manchester City v Chelsea: FA Cup semi-final live.
With six minutes of normal time to play, they broke through to land the decisive blow, the one to set up a possible repeat of last season's final against Manchester United. Either them or Coventry City, who play the second semi-final on Sunday.
Kevin De Bruyne had been a symbol of their performance; trying everything but not seeing it all come off, by any means. Yet when he surged on to a pass towards the byline from the substitute, Jeremy Doku, his cut-back flicked off the leg of the Chelsea goalkeeper, Djordje Petrovic, and there was Silva, opening up his body to guide the shot goalwards.
Chelsea, by contrast, felt it all slip away. They have regularly been a match for the Premier League's top three, despite a season of toil and dysfunction, the sense that an argument or some kind of disaster is around the corner. And so they were here. It was not enough.
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