Sports

FA Cup final: Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United

Sports Desk, Jun 3 (EFE).- With two goals from captain Ilkay Gündogan, Manchester City defeated Manchester United 2-1 Saturday to hoist the FA Cup and move one step closer to becoming the first English club to win the treble since the Red Devils did it in 1999.

On the heels of their third straight Premier League title, Pep Guardiola’s men prevailed in the first-ever Manchester derby edition of the championship match of the world’s oldest national football competition.

Next Saturday, the Cityzens will be in Istanbul for the Champions League final against Inter Milan.

City’s seventh FA Cup triumph made for their second league and cup double in the last four seasons and boosted Guardiola’s career trophy count to 34.

Though City were the favorites on Saturday, it’s a safe bet that none of the 83,179 in the stands at London’s Wembley Stadium expected United to concede after just 13 seconds.

City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega sent the ball down the pitch with a booming kick. United’s Victor Lindelof got his head to it, but failed to clear the zone and Gundogan beat David de Gea with a volley from 25 yards.

Dazed after giving up the fastest goal in the history of the FA Cup final, United would have gone down 2-0 in the 4th minute if Rodri hadn’t put his header in the side-netting.

The Red Devils regained their composure and as the match approached 30 minutes, they got a major break in the form of a VAR intervention.

Bruno Fernandes directed a cross to Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the far post and the defender’s header struck the arm of Jack Grealish. While the referee initially rejected United’s pleas for a penalty, he changed his mind after a VAR-mandated review on the pitch-side monitor.

Fernandes stepped to the spot and converted to bring United level and the teams went to the dressing rooms deadlocked at 1-1.

Five minutes into the second half, City won a free kick and Kevin de Bruyne’s effort found Gündogan, who again got the better of De Gea to reclaim the lead.

But the Spanish keeper did well in the 62nd minute to deny De Bruyne.

Marcus Rashford fired just over the cross-bar on a chance for the equalizer in the 69th, two minutes before Gündogan had a goal disallowed for offside.

United improved with the entry of 18-year-old Alejandro Garnacho, but the closest they came to forcing the game to extra time was a shot by Scott McTominay in the 92nd minute that ended up on the top of the net.

EFE

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