Manchester City's quest for the quadruple goes on after Gabriel Jesus's goal sent them through to the FA Cup final with a 1-0 win over Brighton at Wembley.
The Brazilian got on the end of Kevin De Bruyne's cross in the fourth minute to head past Mat Ryan and despite an uninspiring performance from the Premier League champions, it was enough to see off a spirited Brighton side.
City were forced to make do without Sergio Aguero for the semi-final with Pep Guardiola seemingly unwilling to risk his top scorer ahead of the title run-in.
But his replacement Gabriel Jesus, who missed a number of chances in midweek, showed the Catalan coach he could be relied upon to come in and lead the line with an early goal - and what a goal it was.
Aymeric Laporte floated a pinpoint diagonal pass onto the feet of Bernardo Silva and typically, the Portuguese's touch cushioned the ball as if his foot was wrapped in velvet into the path of Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian whipped in a perfect cross to the back post and Jesus adjusted his body to send his diving header into the bottom corner.
With several key games coming up, City appeared keen to put the game beyond Brighton's reach and looked dangerous every time they came forward.
But Brighton, who had brought 35,000 fans to Wembley, were keen to show what they could do and responded well to going behind, with Davy Propper dragging his shot wide from 20 yards.
The absence of VAR in the FA Cup quarter-final proved to be a blessing in disguise for City as they overcame Swansea 3-2 with two controversial goals. With the technology in place at Wembley this time around, the champions found themselves again on the right side of good fortune.
Kyle Walker and Alireza Jahanbakhsh clashed after an off-the-ball incident, with the Brighton midfielder appearing to stand on the England international. Walker reacted badly and confronted the Iranian by aiming his head towards his opponent.
That led referee Anthony Taylor to brandish a yellow card to both players while VAR looked at a possible red card but, to Brighton's frustration, the original decision stood.
After the break, Brighton came out all guns blazing and only a crucial clearance from Laporte prevented Glenn Murray from tucking home into an empty net after Ederson misjudged the flight of Anthony Knockaert's corner.
Raheem Sterling went close with a long-range effort but Mathew Ryan responded with an acrobatic save to keep the score at 1-0.
Brighton pushed for the elusive equaliser, sending on Jurgen Locadia and Jose Izquierdo in the final stages of the game.
But with Fernandinho and John Stones coming on to protect their lead, City were never really troubled as Pep Guardiola was through to the FA Cup final for the first time as Manchester City coach.
Line-ups, match highlights and action
Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Mendy, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Bernardo Silva, Jesus, Sterling
Brighton XI: Ryan, Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bernardo, Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, Jahanbakhsh, Bissouma, Murray
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