MY ACCOUNT
Ilkay Gundogan brace helps Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 to win their seventh FA Cup at Wembley and take a step closer to a historic treble.
Gundogan opened the scoring straight from kick off with a stunning volley on the edge of the box to give City an early lead.
United equalised in the 33rd minute after they were awarded a penalty for a handball from Jack Grealish, which Bruno Fernandes rolled home with confidence.
Minutes after the break, Gundogan fired in a second volley, this time from a free-kick that saw the Citizens re-take the lead and capture the FA Cup.
Here are five talking points from the cracking final at Wembley Stadium.
Captain fantastic
Manchester City captain Gundogan set the final alight, opening the scoring with a wonderful strike.
It came 12 seconds from kick-off — the fastest FA Cup final goal ever — with a remarkable volley from the edge of the box that David de Gea could only watch fly into his net.
Then in the second half, Kevin de Bruyne launched a free-kick to the edge of the box, where he fired another volley home, this time on his left foot.
Having already given some crucial moments during the Premier League run-in for City, he once again came up with the goods to lead his team to FA Cup glory.
Citizens close on Treble
Manchester City’s triumph over their rivals sees them take a step closer towards a historic Treble.
After cruising to a third successive Premier League title, now Inter Milan are the last team standing in the way of Guardiola’s side for the Champions League trophy.
Manchester United are the only team in England to have won the three trophies in one season, that being 1998-99 under the management of Alex Ferguson.
The Citizens will travel to Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium next week brimming with confidence, knowing they are one step away from achieving the remarkable feat.
City defence
A key part of their triumph was the City defence.
Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker acted as the last line of cover, cleaning up any through-balls played into Marcus Rashford, using their speed and strength to keep him at bay.
John Stones moved into midfield in possession, creating a double pivot with Rodri to draw defenders and open spaces for City’s attack to exploit, then dropped deep to defend.
Manuel Akanji was crucial in winning the one-on-one battle with Rashford on the left flank and operated as an outlet for the Citizens to break pressure.
The defensive unit contained a tricky United attack to just one goal and ensured FA Cup triumph, conceding just once throughout the entire competition.
Pep’s tactics pay off
Pep Guardiola brought the perfect set-up for City to win.
In attack, they were quick and devastating, using Erling Haaland to hold up the ball, they hit the target five times in the match, with quality from Gundogan proving the difference.
Defensively, they limited United to just three shots on target, from 13 efforts the majority of which were speculative at best.
Guardiola also made the bold move to keep his second-choice goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and it paid off when he denied Raphael Varane from point-blank range in stoppage time to secure victory.
Bragging rights
The two sides have won 19 FA Cups between them but the first-ever Manchester Derby FA Cup final.
It was Guardiola’s second time lifting this trophy after his first came in a 6-0 drubbing over Watford in 2018-19.
However, this trophy will have the satisfaction of taking it over their rivals United.
