Three minutes into the second half of this FA Cup semi-final Luis Díaz took the ball just inside his own half, looked up and saw in freeze-frame the figure of Fernandinho suspended inches above the Wembley turf, rotated at an angle of 60 degrees to the ground, left leg extended to meet the ball – and in the process to send Díaz in a semi-somersault arc as the frame of Fernandino propelled itself through the space where previously he, Díaz, had stood.
It wasn’t a foul, although the next one on Sadio Mané was, a slide into the ankle that really could have led to Fernandino being sent off. The tackle on Díaz was more like a message, a considered personal missive from the entire Manchester City dressing room. Because City will have hated the first half of this game.
