The FA Cup 2024 final will see a Manchester derby in a replay of last year’s final, where Premier League champion Manchester City beat its arch-rival 2-1 to lift the title and move closer to a historic treble (which it later did after beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League final).
Manchester United, the only English club to win the treble, had a chance to stop its ‘noisy neighbour’ from achieving the same feat in the 2022-23 season by thwarting them in the FA Cup title clash.
However, the Red Devils had the worst possible start after Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring after just 12 seconds, becoming the fastest scorer in FA Cup final history - a record previously held by Everton Louis Saha (scored after 25 seconds) in the 2009 Cup final, where the Toffees lost 2-1 to Chelsea.
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Gundogan took the lead in prime fashion with a right-footed volley from just outside the penalty area.
Pep Guardiola’s men were eager to capitalise on the lead and had a chance soon after the opener. Kevin de Bruyne’s freekick inside the box was narrowly headed wide by Rodri. Haaland too, got a chance to double the lead, but his shot drifted just above the goal.
These missed chances gave United some confidence, and it began to push for an equaliser. It kept good spells of possession, and the efforts bore fruit when VAR confirmed that the ball had struck Jack Grealish’s hands inside the area. Bruno Fernandes stepped up and successfully converted the spot kick to make it 1-1 in the 33rd minute. United maintained its dominance in the remaining minutes of the first half and came close to taking the lead after Raphael Varane’s header from a corner glazed over the crossbar.
Whatever Guardiola said at half-time, worked as City came out all guns blazing in the second half and took the lead in the 51st minute. It was captain Gundogan again, this time striking the ball first time with his left foot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
Rashford came close to equalising for the Red Devils but could not convert with his effort from outside the penalty area. City thought it had taken a two-goal lead at the other end after Gudogan tapped in the rebound from Haaland’s effort. However, the Man City captain was denied his hat-trick after the referee disallowed the goal after Gundogan was shown to have been in an offside position when Haaland tried the initial shot.
Manuel Akanji also came close to scoring at the far post as Bernardo Silva whipped a ball across the face of the goal.
With time running out, United resorted to kitchen-sink football, and its efforts almost earned it a goal, with Alejandro Garnacho missing the target and Scott McTominay’s shot saved by Stefan Ortega.
The match ended after six minutes of stoppage time, with City winning 2–1.
While City’s dream of repeating the treble ended with its quarterfinal loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League, it can win the domestic double after already having created history by winning its fourth Premier League title on the trot. Erik Ten Hag’s United will look to salvage a disappointing season by capping it off with silverware.
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