Cole Palmer chose mediocrity over medals! Winners and losers as Nicolas Jackson's Wembley nightmare adds another bottle job to Chelsea's growing collection as Man City's mentality monsters reach another final

City were knocked out of the Champions League in the cruelest fashion by Real Madrid on Wednesday and for much of this game they looked to still be suffering from a broken heart. They also looked to be suffering from fatigue. But they dug deep into their reserves and resisted Chelsea's attacks with every sinew in their body.

Guardiola was in awe of his players as he raged against the BBC for scheduling the match less than 72 hours after the Madrid match. "Mentally so tough to recover. Rodri, the way he played today, Kyle, who was injured for a few weeks, I don't understand how they survived," the coach said.

And Frank Lampard, who was pitchside with the BBC, was equally impressed with how City kept going. "I don't think you can analyse Manchester City today, that wasn't Manchester City. They haven't got the spark in the legs, the energy of the press, the sharpness, the killer instinct. Today was about character," the former Chelsea boss said.

"In top teams you are going to play a lot of games, what they showed today was another side of them by finding a way to get through a tough game."

Cole Palmer has vindicated his own self belief this season and proven that he deserved more game time with City. With 20 goals in his debut campaign with Chelsea, also effectively his first season in a senior team, he has proved one of the shrewdest transfers of the summer transfer window, when he initially looked wildly overpriced at £42.5m ($52.5m) for a player with so few Premier League starts to his name.

But individual recognition has come at a cost of collective glory. Despite being one of the outstanding players in England this season, Palmer's season will ultimately judged by two big disappointments at Wembley (this missed opportunity and the Carabao Cup final defeat by Liverpool) and a mid-table finish in the Premier League.

Palmer was Chelsea's best performer on the day and was unlucky not score, denied by a fine save from Stefan Ortega. But ultimately he is going to end the season empty-handed.

Meanwhile, his former City team-mates are on course to win a domestic double, are in charge of the title race and now back in another FA Cup final. Palmer could have got a taste of that silverware had he stayed at City and although he would not have played as much as he has at Chelsea, he would surely have played a bigger part in the glory than last season, when he was on the periphery of the treble triumph.

Having spent so much of the game getting twisted and turned inside out by Chelsea, City bared their teeth at the crucial stage of the game. And it was down to their brilliant Belgians Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne.

De Bruyne had exerted himself so hard against Madrid he was unable to play extra-time but he recovered in less than three days and ran himself into the ground again. But with just six minutes to go he had the presence of mind to set up Bernardo Silva's goal with an expert cut-back.

De Bruyne's compatriot Doku also played his part in the victory by taking the game to Chelsea after he replaced Grealish. The winger had been excellent against Madrid and sparked De Bruyne's equaliser and again proved to be an exceptional weapon to bring off the bench and throw at opponents.

Jack Grealish had played well and his tactical intelligence means he is often a wiser choice to start games than his more unpredictable team-mate. But when the game is tight and needs to be broken open, there are few players more able at finding the key than Doku.

The last time Chelsea were at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, Gary Neville produced one of his best ever commentary lines when he remarked: "It's Klopp's Kids versus the billion pound bottle jobs."

The former Manchester United defender took plenty of flack for those comments and even he has admitted he might have gone in too hard on Mauricio Pochettino's side. But this match showed Neville was right. Chelsea are bottlers.

They had a knackered and out-of-sorts City in front of them and had an extra 48 hours to prepare for the game. They made an excellent start and created the better opportunities in both halves. The FA Cup final was right in front of them, beckoning them to step forward and book their place in next month's showpiece back under the Wembley arch. But they could not take it.

Pochettino was happy to admit that his side could not seize the moment, contrasting their ruthlessness against Everton. "I think in the game we were a little bit better and deserved more, but it is not about deserving it, it is about being clinical and we were not today," he said.

"I think last Monday we scored six but today we were not capable of scoring even with having maybe more chances and more clear chances to score."

How can a player be so good at creating chances and so bad at finishing them? That is the great mystery about Nicolas Jackson. The Senegalese forward was the main culprit of Chelsea's failure to reach the final.

He got behind the City defence on numerous occasions and in the first half found himself one-on-one against Stefan Ortega. But he was caught in two minds between going for goal or dribbling around the goalkeeper and ended up doing neither, failing to get a shot away.

And in the second half he failed to score from point-blank range, firing straight at Ortega and then missing the target. It was a dreadful performance in front of goal and one that neither he nor Chelsea fans will be able to forget in a hurry.

The Red Devils and surprise package Coventry will contest tomorrow's semi-final and both sides must have been hoping that Chelsea would await them in the final. For all their individual quality, Pochettino's side are disjointed and mentally weak. They are beatable.

But City will strike fear into both sides. And when they play in the final on May 25 they will have had six days to prepare for it. The short turnaround was a major factor in City playing so poorly here but with proper preparation they will be formidable opponents for whoever they end up facing back at Wembley.

United will be dreading meeting them again in the final after the pain of last year, when they were sunk by Ilkay Gundogan's twin strikes. City have outclassed the Red Devils home and away this season and given how many shots Erik ten Hag's side keep conceding, the final could turn out to be a real bloodbath.

United are by no means guaranteed to beat Coventry, who are managed by Mark Robins, the man credited with saving Alex Ferguson's job back in 1990. Failure to beat the side who were in League Two as recently as 2018 would be a huge humiliation. But on the other hand, it would at least mean avoiding a highly likely and chastening final defeat to their neighbours.