Man City know what they need to do this summer after Liverpool FC defeat

When Manchester City look back at their FA Cup semi-final and analyse how their Treble hopes went up in smoke, they will look to Nathan Ake being outjumped by a dominant Ibrahima Konate and, most damningly, Zack Steffen’s casual approach to possession in his own six-yard box.

On a day when the Blues needed everything to go right, it had all gone wrong inside the first 20 minutes. After the mayhem in Madrid less than 72 hours earlier Pep Guardiola’s side needed to ease their way into the semi-final. Instead, they were on the back foot from the first whistle.

Liverpool would have sensed their time to pounce was early on. City’s win at the Wanda Metropolitano took an emotional and physical toll and they were always vulnerable at Wembley. But any City analysis into this defeat should instead rewind to March 18. That was the date the Champions League quarter-final draw was made and it couldn’t have been any worse for Guardiola’s side.

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It’s credit to Liverpool’s shrewd recruitment across the last three transfer windows that they’ve now got the depth of squad to challenge City on all fronts, but they also had the luck of the draw that day in Nyon. A quarter-final against Benfica was as good as it could have got for Jurgen Klopp’s side and they fulfilled their end of the bargain by taking a commanding position from the first leg in Lisbon.

Conversely, City pulled Atletico Madrid out of the hat. Those two draining and demanding contests against Diego Simeone’s dogs of war were always going to sap energy from a squad that has been stretched this season.

So, while Liverpool had the luxury of resting key men on Wednesday night and having a quiet evening on