Manchester City want to keep their treble chances in a historic derby in the FA Cup final

MADRID, 2 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Manchester City and Manchester United will play this Saturday (4:00 p.m.) at Wembley in the final of the 142nd edition of the FA Cup, in a historic match as it will be the first time that a Manchester derby decides the champion of the oldest football tournament in the world. world.

Pep Guardiola faces a coach who knows him very well, as Erik Ten Hag led the Bayern Munich subsidiary when the Spaniard was in the first team. In addition, Guardiola is in the competition that has cost him the most since he arrived in England, since he has only passed the semifinals once; yes, that time he raised the trophy.

The ‘citizen’ team, champion in 2019 and which still has the Champions League final pending on the 10th of this month, arrives at its best moment of the course. They are looking for a historic treble, despite their recent league defeat against Brentford, in a match without a game. This defeat was the first since they lost against Tottenham on February 5 and the seventh defeat in total of the season.

For their part, the ‘Red Devils’ team, ranked third in the Premier League and who have had a very complicated career in this competition, will try to meet the wishes of their neighbor and add their second title of the year, after having won the Carabao Cup.

In the previous duels this season between the two, a victory for each one. City’s win (6-3) at their stadium at the beginning of the season and the great game that Ten Hag’s men won at Old Trafford (2-1). Of course, the rotations that both coaches usually do in the FA Cup play down the importance of previous clashes.

The final is attractive due to the style of both, who like to have possession and be vertical, and who have high-level offensive weapons, especially Guardiola thanks to Erling Haaland. Ten Hag will have there the sensitive loss of the Brazilian Antony, but he trusts Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho to hurt a defense that has been quite solid.

Controlling the midfield will also be key and, in this situation, the muscle of Casemiro and Fred, plus the talent of Bruno Fernandes, will have to battle with the quality and mobility of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan and Bernardo Silva, and try to mess up a Rodri Hernández in great form.