The victory in the FA Cup final would not save the Manchester City season, but at least it would save something from a campaign that Erling Haaland described as 'horrible'.
The striker is for the first time since the accession Underwhelmed, after he had scored 15 less Premier League goals than in his first season in the club, although they had played six fewer games.
You cannot criticize a striker who has achieved 30 goals in all competitions with three more games to play, but Haaland places his own incredibly high bar and the record -breaking songs that he posted in his first two seasons have been taken.
It still makes him the top scorer of the city at some distance, but he is also big enough to admit that they have not been good enough.
In an interview with BBC Sport, Haaland exposed the feeling inside the dressing room of the city for the final.
“We have not been stable enough this season and we have not won enough games, it's that simple. We have to perform better in the big games,” said the city.
“Of course we have had injuries all season. But we should not look for apologies. Each of us has not been good enough and we have not been to our best, so if you are not at your best, you will not win games in this country because it is so difficult.”
Pep Guardiola was quite clear with me when I asked him a few weeks ago about their priorities for the last part of the season, that Champions League qualification was more important than lifting the FA Cup.
A series of four consecutive Premier League wins she had to achieve that goal, but the unexpected scoreless draw in Southampton last Saturday, the second team in the Premier League history no less, added an element of fear to the season finale.
Although the qualification of the Champions League remains in its own hands, City could be outside the top five by the time they face Bournemouth on Tuesday evening.
It was only two weeks since Pep summarizes the season by saying, “It can be worse.”
He is right, it could be.
Crystal Palace has shown enough in recent weeks to suggest that they might have their best chance of ending their 120-year-old waiting to lift a large trophy.
City has, on the other hand, developed into serial winners, and it feels for them to fulfill their promise to return to their best next season, to win on such a large stage is essential.
At the time of parties on a sun -drenched Wembley, many of the struggles of this season would be forgotten.
However, climbing the 107 steps to receive the medal from a loser can be enough to finally get life out of this group of city players.
The FA Cup under Roberto Mancini started their era of Dominance in 2011, and for a number of reasons on Saturday, the showpiece of Saturday feels the most important domestic final since then.
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