Manchester City took another step towards the historic treble, and ticked the FA Cup box by beating Manchester United in the final (2-1) on Saturday. On June 10, Pep Guardiola’s men will try to win their first Champions League.
Published on : 03/06/2023 – 21:54
And two out of three! Thanks to a double from Ilkay Gündogan, Manchester City beat United (2-1) on Saturday June 3 at Wembley, winning the FA Cup and paving the way for a historic treble.
In a week, in Istanbul, Pep Guardiola’s men will try to win their first Champions League against Inter Milan to match the performance that only the Red Devils had achieved, on the English side, by combining the championship, cup and C1 in 1999.
This victory already gives them the second double in their history, after that of 2019 which had even been a national hat-trick, since they had also won the League Cup that year.
In view of the final played on Saturday, they will present themselves as favorites on June 10, as they have once again displayed their superiority over their neighbors.
Gündogan, the man of the match
Despite finishing third in the Premier League this season and winning the League Cup, United are good enough to make life difficult for City, not yet good enough to actually put them at risk.
Even if they were able to come back to score with an almost miraculous penalty, as they had offered little offensively until then, and above all questionable, transformed by Bruno Fernandes (1-1, 33e), too many players, like Fred, Christian Eriksen or Jadon Sancho, have seemed too fair in the face of this level of adversity.
City was not, however, frankly transcendent, with Erling Haaland not very dangerous, apart from a center cut in the 16the and a strike too high in the 21ste.
But after barely 13 seconds of play, Captain Gündogan had already put his people into orbit, after a kick-off in “kick and rush” mode worthy of English football in the 1980s and the antithesis of the polished game advocated by Guardiola.
“We couldn’t have started the final any better, even if there are still 90 minutes to play afterwards,” admitted the Catalan, joking that the action had been worked on thanks to his “genius”.
At the end of the contract this summer and while his future at City is very uncertain, the German has confirmed that he is the man for the end of the season. After his two braces and assist in the 2-1 win over Leeds and 3-0 over Everton that put City out of Arsenal’s reach, Gündogan turned the game around again.
At the start of the second half, on an eccentric free kick cleverly played back by Kevin de Bruyne, his volley with his bad foot, the left, had gone to lodge after two rebounds along the post of De Gea, not exempt of any reproach on this shot even if he was a little masked at the start of the ball (2-1, 51e).
Guardiola insatiable
The meeting will not leave great memories in memory, apart from the record of precocity of the first goal, but it confirms the dominance of City and its ability to win even when Haaland is muzzled.
Guardiola’s emotion at the final whistle showed that weariness has not dulled the appetite of the Sky Blues who will face their Holy Grail next Saturday.
“We had an incredible season, but we never won the C1 (…) What a privilege to make two finals in three years, it’s incredible, but in the end you have to win the C1 to prove what we are worth”, hammered Guardiola in a press conference.
With AFP
