Ilkay Gundogan’s brace saw Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 to win 2022-23 FA Cup.
Gundogan volleyed City ahead just 13 seconds into the match from Kevin De Bruyne’s knockdown header, which made history as the fastest goal in the history of the FA Cup Final.
Bruno Fernandes equalised from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute following a handball from Jack Grealish.
Gundogan however wrapped up a second domestic trophy of the season for Man City with a scruffy 51st minute strike, courtesy of De Bruyne’s free-kick.
City are now seven-time FA Cup champions and head to Istanbul, Turkey, on the cusp of a treble if they beat Inter Milan in the Champions League Final on 10 June.
Having entered this match in search of a potential treble, Pep Guardiola made ten changes to City’s line-up with only Kyle Walker retained from their 1-0 loss at Brentford last weekend.
Ten Hag’s Man Utd meanwhile opted for just four changes from their comeback win over Fulham, as Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Tyrell Malacia and Alejandro Garnacho were dropped for Aaron Wan Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw and Christian Eriksen respectively.
Guardiola’s gamble immediately paid off from the kick-off as the ball was played to Stefan Ortega, who kicked the ball long for De Bruyne to knock down which found Gundogan to volley into the top-right corner after 13 seconds to score the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history.
That early goal however did little to settle Utd’s defence as Rodri almost doubled City’s lead in the third minute, as he headed Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick wide of the near top-right corner.
Grealish fired wide in the sixth minute as City continued to dominate the opening half-hour, during which Erling Haaland wasted two chances and Kevin De Bruyne blasted wide from Bernardo Silva’s 27th minute pass.
Utd’s closest chance meanwhile came from Marcus Rashford’s header in the 24th minute from Casemiro’s short direct cross, which flew wide of the bottom-left corner.
Grealish however conceded a sloppy penalty to Utd in the 28th minute as he accidentally handled Fernandes’ cross towards Aaron Wan-Bissaka, which referee – Paul Tierney gave after consulting with VAR.
Fernandes duly stepped up in the 33rd minute and rolled his penalty down the middle as Ortega dived to his left side to restore parity in front of the City’s supporters end.
Utd subsequently defended with discipline as Man City attempted to wrestle the lead back into half-time to no avail, despite 39th minute appeals for a penalty being snubbed by Tierney after Fred fouled De Bruyne inside the box.
After half-time, City continued their intensity which eventually saw De Bruyne draw a foul from Fred on Utd’s left flank in the 50th minute,
Fred’s mistake however was punished further a minute later as De Bruyne curled the free-kick acorss the edge of the box, for Gundogan to rifle in on the bounce to put City back ahead and on course for a domestic double with the treble within sight.
Ten Hag’s Red Devils however struggled to mount much of a response until Rashford met Fernandes’ short 69th minute pass, only to rifle his shot high over the bar from the edge of the box.
Rashford’s miss almost proved costly two minutes later as Gundogan played one-two with Grealish into box, but shot was blocked out to Grealish who found Haaland to shoot but De Gea blocked and Gundogan smashed in on the rebound but the goal was disallowed due to Gundogan’s offside position.
United substitute, Alejandro Garnacho then fired wide across goal a minute later as he attempted to pull the 12-time winners level.
Manuel Akanji almost wrapped up a seventh title for City in the 80th minute just yards from goal with a tap-in, but Silva’s cross marginally evaded the Swiss defender’s reach.
Guardiola’s Cityzens eventually clung on despite late pressure from Man Utd to secure their seventh FA Cup title, which kept their treble dreams alive as they prepare to meet Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday 10 June.
City’s triumph also ensured that Brentford are the ony club to have beaten Guardiola’s Cityzens twice this season, across all competitions.
Speaking post-match to BBC One, Gundogan described the victory as “special” and well-earned with an “amazing” second half.
Gundogan also explained City’s tactics as he added: “Obviously we know how we want to play the kick off and we aim to do that, to go long for Erling and try to get a second ball. It just placed amazingly for me and I just had to hit it. Obviously it was a quite good strike.”
Teams
Manchester City: Stefan Ortega, Kyle Walker (Laporte 90+5′), Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne (Foden 76′), Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish (Ake 89′), Erling Haaland
Substitutes: Kalvin Phillips, Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte, Julian Alvarez, Riyad Mahrez, Ederson, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis
Manchester United: David De Gea, Aaron Wan Bissaka, Victor Lindelof (McTominay 83′), Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Casemiro, Fred, Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen (Garnacho 62′), Jadon Sancho (Weghorst 78′), Marcus Rashford
Substitutes: Harry Maguire, Tyrell Malacia, Diogo Dalot, Wout Weghorst, Facundo Pellistri, Jack Butland, Anthony Elanga, Scott McTominay, Alejandro Garnacho
Referee: Paul Tierney
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