Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday to win the FA Cup. Two goals from captain İlkay Gündoğan secured a victory that gave City their second trophy of the season.
City captain Gundogan scored the fastest goal in FA Cup final history with a stunning volley after 12 seconds and struck what proved to be the winner seven minutes after halftime.
In doing so, the 32-year-old, who is expected to leave City in the summer after seven trophy-laden years, became the oldest player to score an FA Cup final brace since Nat Lofthouse for Bolton Wanderers in 1958, also against United.
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United, seeking to win both domestic cups in the same season for the first time in their history and wreck City’s hopes of emulating their own historic 1999 treble, had levelled with a 33rd-minute Bruno Fernandes penalty.
Pep Guardiola’s side resisted some late United pressure to win the trophy for a seventh time.
It is the 13th time the English League and FA Cup double has been achieved. But City now wants more and travels to Istanbul to face Inter Milan seeking to be crowned European champions for the first time and to equal United’s 1998-99 Premier League/FA Cup/Champions League sweep under Alex Ferguson.
“Now we can talk about the treble,” Guardiola, who has won 11 trophies since arriving at City in 2016, said.
City could become the second English club to win all three major trophies in a season if they beat Inter Milan in the Champions League final next Saturday.
United manager Erik ten Hag described Guardiola’s team as the best in the world and few would dispute that claim. But the truth is that United have a lot to do to be rivals to a City side that has finished top of the league for the past 10 years.
