FA Cup
Man City edge closer to treble after FA Cup final win over Man Utd
Manchester City moved to within one victory of completing a momentous treble as they deservedly beat arch-rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final thanks to Ilkay Gundogan’s record-breaking double on Saturday.
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.
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 want more and travel 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.
“Of course we still have to win the Champions League. We performed so well for our city and our fans. It was so important for us today. The FA Cup is so nice.”
BRAGGING RIGHTS
For the first time in 190 meetings the clubs were clashing for silverware, and not just bragging rights, and Wembley was decked in red and sky blue as fans braved rail strikes to descend en masse on the capital.
Smoke from the pre-match pyrotechnics had not even cleared when City took the lead in spectacular fashion.
Keeper Stefan Ortega’s long punt towards Erling Haaland and as the ball bounced into the path of Gundogan who did not hesitate to send a dipping right-foot volley arcing over a transfixed David de Gea.
“The ball just was placed amazingly for me and I just had to hit it,” he said. “Obviously it was quite a good strike and it went in and it was amazing.”
It eclipsed the previous fastest FA Cup final goal scored by Louis Saha after 25 seconds for Everton against Chelsea in 2009 and City threatened to run riot against a stunned United.
Rodri and Jack Grealish both failed to convert good chances in the opening five minutes in which United barely touched the ball while Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne also went close for City before United were handed an unexpected gift.
United right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka headed a diagonal ball harmlessly across the area and as play continued referee Paul Tierney was instructed to check a pitch-side VAR monitor for a possible handball by Grealish.
It was extremely harsh on Grealish, but Tierney pointed to the spot and Fernandes calmly shuffled up to send Ortega the wrong way with his penalty and spark celebrations at the east end of the stadium where United’s fans were packed.
Briefly United looked City’s match and Raphael Varane volleyed over from a corner as halftime approached.
But it proved an illusion. City needed slightly longer in the second half to re-establish their superiority and again it was Gundogan displaying his knack of scoring crucial goals.
This time he was picked out by De Bruyne’s chipped pass and his left-foot volley, not struck anywhere near as perfectly as his earlier effort, bounced its way through a crowded area and crept inside De Gea’s right-hand post.
Gundogan was denied a hat-trick by an offside flag and as the minutes ticked down City looked edgy with United substitute Alejandro Garnacho curling a shot agonisingly wide and a crazy goalmouth scramble in stoppage time ended with the ball bouncing off City’s crossbar.
For United they can console themselves with a League Cup trophy in manager Erik Ten Hag’s encouraging first season and will hope Inter can stop City next Saturday.
-Reuters
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City crushed Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to cruise into the FA Cup semi-finals.
Champions Liverpool played well in the opening half-hour with Mohamed Salah wasting an early chance, but once Haaland had scored from the spot in the 37th minute after a foul on Nico O’Reilly, their resistance crumbled.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk conceded the penalty with a rash challenge, and there was little the Dutch defender could do as City played scintillating attacking football for the remainder of the game.
His blond hair swinging behind him in a ponytail, Haaland netted his second two minutes into first-half stoppage time with a well-placed header from an excellent Antoine Semenyo cross.
Semenyo got on the scoresheet himself five minutes after the break, latching on to a ball in behind from Rayan Cherki and chipping it beautifully past Giorgi Mamardashvili, and Haaland completed his treble with a shot off the underside of the crossbar in the 57th minute.
Liverpool’s woes continued when Mohamed Salah, who is set to leave the club at the end of the season, capped off a poor performance by having his penalty saved by James Trafford, snuffing out any faint hopes Liverpool might have had of a comeback
As the game turned into a victory parade, many Liverpool fans started heading for the exits, and City manager Pep Guardiola rang the changes, replacing Haaland with Omar Marmoush, the Norwegian striker receiving a standing ovation as he left the field.
In the other quarter-finals, Chelsea take on Port Vale and Southampton host Arsenal later on Saturday, with Leeds United travelling to West Ham United on Sunday.
The semi-finals will take place at Wembley, and Haaland is relishing a return to the stadium.
“First half, we struggled a bit, but then we after around 30 minutes we kept going and in the end it’s an amazing game. Another Wembley trip for us is amazing and important,” he told broadcaster TNT.
“I think (my form this season) has been a bit too much up and down, which is not good enough. I cannot keep on thinking about what I could have done differently or what didn’t happen, or what happened. I have to think about the next game.”
-Reuters
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Arsenal will be without injured England attacker Noni Madueke when they face Southampton in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final, but Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber may return from injury, manager Mikel Arteta said.
Madueke was among the 11 Arsenal players who withdrew from international duty last month over injuries and fitness management, as the club eye their first Premier League title since 2004.
“When you have to communicate the state of every player, we are always honest and a medical decision had to be made. That was clear what the conclusion was,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“It makes us so proud that we had that many players in the national team. Players are desperate to play for their nation. I know how important it is to them. We are fully supportive of that and when we can do it, we do it.”
Madueke picked up a knee injury during England’s friendly with Uruguay, missing the game against Japan. But Arteta said his condition was not as bad as a knee injury that kept him out for six weeks.
Martin Zubimendi, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Timber, Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were unavailable for their countries.
Arteta did not disclose how many of them will be available for Saturday’s game, as Arsenal look to shake off last month’s League Cup final loss to Manchester City with a return to Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals.
“We’re in a position right now where we need to make the strongest line-up we possibly can to win every competition,” he said. ” We are two or three games away from the FA Cup and we know how important that competition is for us.”
-Reuters
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Manchester City will look to secure a historic eighth straight semi-final appearance in the FA Cup when they face Liverpool on Saturday, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City beat Arsenal to win the League Cup before the international break, and Guardiola is hoping his team maintain the momentum as they fight to add the FA Cup and Premier League to this season’s trophy haul.
“Once you finish one, it is the next one,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“Tomorrow we have the chance to reach an incredible milestone, to make eight semi-finals in a row. It’s never happened… it is a prestigious competition, and one of the toughest, special opponents for all of us, Liverpool.”
City have dominated English football with six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five League Cups since Guardiola joined in 2016, but Liverpool have been a constant thorn in his side throughout his coaching career.
As a coach, Guardiola has only nine victories and seven draws in 26 matches against Liverpool, his worst win rate against a Premier League club.
City have beaten Liverpool twice in the Premier League this season, but had to dig deep for a late comeback when they won 2-1 at Anfield in February.
“So many times they have been the rival, the biggest, biggest one… top contender, top class players, all of them. Hopefully we have to perform in the level we did against Arsenal to reach the next step,” Guardiola said.
The manager also praised Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who has announced his departure in the summer.
“Absolutely. One of the greatest. The numbers, the consistency. What a player… absolute legend, of course for Liverpool, but (also) for the Premier League,” Guardiola said.
Guardiola, however, avoided commenting on his own midfielder Rodri, who said he was open to a move to Real Madrid when his contract with City runs out at the end of this season.
“No clue, no opinion… because I know the intention of the club, I know the intention, I think, of him, but I don’t know,” Guardiola said.’
-Reuters
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