In a game that was played at a searing pace, Manchester City sealed a place in the finals of the F.A. Cup after a thrilling 2-1 win over Chelsea at Wembley.
Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero scored for the reigning English Premier League champs, before Demba Ba brought things back as City weathered a furious Chelsea figthback to keep their dreams of silverware for this season alive.
After knocking out the defending champions, City will now face Wigan in the final at Wembley, after the Latics scored a comfortable 2-0 win over Millwall on Saturday.
Manchester City did it all without their influential playmaker David Silva, who was not fit enough to make the squad, which allowed Nasri to start, while the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry were expectedly left out of the starting lineup for Chelsea.
The game was played at a frenetic pace throughout the 90 minutes, with both sides going full tilt, which at the end of the day, might have worked against Chelsea, who were still feeling the effects of that long trip to Russia on Thursday in the Europa League.
Aguero thought he had scored early on, stabbing a shot from close-range, only for Petr Cech to deny the City striker brilliantly.
Carlos Tevez produced another save from Cech, with the Chelsea goalkeeper having to be alert after some good play from James Milner and Gareth Barry along with the Argentine.
It was end-to-end stuff at Wembley, although, City were looking the more threatening going forward with Tevez again coming close.
After a couple of jabs from both sides, the goal finally came in the 35th minute. Yaya Toure left Juan Mata for dead, before surging forward. The Ivorian picked out Aguero inside the box, who in turn played in Nasri. The former Arsenal midfielder tried to give the ball back to Aguero only to see the ball ricochet back to him kindly off Cesar Azpilicueta, allowing him to slot in from eight yards.
City had their tails up after the goal, with Milner first coming close before Vincent Kompany missed a sitter. James Milner, off a quick breakaway found himself in space on the right, but his poor cross, rebounded off Cech to Kompany, who only had to find the target from 12 yards, but shot wide.
City thought they had the game won early in the second half, when some brilliant play from Aguero led to the second goal in the 47th minute.
The Argentine made a nice run, spinning around Branislav Ivanovic, before meeting a Gareth Barry cross perfectly with his head to guide it into the top corner, with Cech rooted to the spot.
City had a couple of chances on the counter to put the game to bed, but the final pass let them down as Chelsea continued to hold hopes of a stirring comeback.
That looked even more likely on 66 minutes as the London side cut the deficit. Fernando Torres made a nuisance of himself seconds after coming on, as City failed to deal with a long ball, allowing Demba Ba to turn and fire in a brilliant shot past Costel Pantilimon.
Chelsea were in the ascendancy now, as Mata just failed to work his way around Pantilimon before the City goalkeeper was forced into a brilliant reaction save off a close-range snapshot from Ba.
City manager Roberto Mancini, clearly worried with Chelsea's sudden dominance, made a defensive substitution, bringing on defensive midfielder Javi Garcia for striker Tevez.
Aguero, though, was lucky to remain on the pitch, after making a nasty looking two-footed challenge on David Luiz, which might or might not have been deliberate.
Chelsea continued to probe and pry the City defence, with Torres, getting in behind Kompany, only for the two to tangle, with the Chelsea man claiming a tug on his shirt. No penalty was given though, despite severe protests from Torres.
At the other end, Aguero nearly made it 3-1, but could not take the ball in his stride after a cutback from Toure, as Chelsea began to grow increasingly desperate with time ticking on.
City just about saw the game through, leaving their fans dreaming of a second F.A. Cup victory in three years.