Man City makes it a double, claiming FA Cup as Gundogan brace sinks Man United

Man City lifted the FA Cup, but their work in 2023 isn’t quite done

Manchester City’s pursuit of a treble is on.

The blue half of Manchester got the party they wanted at Wembley, as Man City defeated Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup Final on Saturday.

Finals are often tetchy and cautious, but Man City had no interest in any of that. With space and time outside the box, İlkay Gündoğan fired his side into the lead after just 13 seconds, a new FA Cup record.

Man City went hunting for a second, but were stunned after VAR caught Jack Grealish handling the ball while jumping. A lengthy check ended with Bruno Fernandes standing over a penalty, with the Man United captain equalizing with ease in the 33rd minute.

Celebrations of that goal were marred by a fan throwing an object that struck Victor Lindelof in the head. Fortunately, Lindelof was able to carry on, only leaving the game late on as part of an apparent tactical change from Erik ten Hag.

The Red Devils had done well to recover from the stunning opener, but had much more trouble getting back on their feet after a deflating second from Gündoğan.

Again, the Germany midfielder struck on the half-volley from outside the box, but this time his contact was far less clean. However, David de Gea appeared to not see the ball’s trajectory until it was nearly over the line, and the bouncing shot skipped past him to give Man City a 52nd minute lead.

It wasn’t long after that Gündoğan tapped home what would have been the first FA Cup hat trick since 1953 only for the offside flag to come up, denying his tap-in after a series of Man City shots kept resulting in friendly rebounds.

Man United offered a sporadic threat on the counter, with Alejandro Garnacho blazing inches wide moments after Gündoğan’s goal was chalked off.

They never got closer than the early seconds of stoppage time, where a desperate ball into the box somehow fell right to Scott McTominay. What followed was a wild sequence including a poor touch, Stefan Ortega deflecting a point-blank Raphaël Varane shot onto the crossbar, and McTominay’s follow-up being helped over the bar.

Man City held on, giving them a domestic double, and it keeps Pep Guardiola’s side on course for a potential three-trophy haul. That will come down to the result of the Champions League final next Saturday, where Man City will face Inter in Istanbul.

“We are in a position we will probably never be in again,” Guardiola told reporters after the match, adding to BBC One that “we can now talk about the treble… Tomorrow and the next day they can have off. We’ve then got three or four sessions to train for Inter Milan. We’ll travel on Thursday morning after training.”

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