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FA Cup

A look at some of the stats ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby FA Cup final

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Manchester City take on rivals Manchester United in the 2023 FA Cup Final, and ahead of the showpiece, here are some of the key statistics  and facts compiled by Opta

● This is the first ever major final between Manchester City and Manchester United.

● United have won five of their last six FA Cup meetings with City, most recently a 3-2 away win in January 2012. The only exception in that run was a semi-final victory for Man City in 2010-11.

● This will be the third meeting between City and United at Wembley Stadium, with the other two both coming in 2011. The Citizens won an FA Cup semi-final tie 1-0, while the Red Devils won 3-2 in the Community Shield.● This is City’s 12th FA Cup final, winning six and losing five of the previous eleven. They’ve alternated between losing and winning in their last four, most recently beating Watford 6-0 in 2019.

● United are contesting their 21st FA Cup Final, the joint-most of any side in the history of the competition along with Arsenal. They’ve won the trophy 12 times, with their eight final defeats the joint-most of any side along with Chelsea and Everton.

● Following their Premier League title win, City could win the league and FA Cup double for the second time in their history, after 2018-19. They would be the third team to do so on more than occasion after Manchester United (1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99) and Arsenal (1970-71, 1997-98, 2001-02).

● Having already won the League Cup against Newcastle this season, Manchester United are looking to win both major domestic cup competitions in a single season for the first time. They would be the fifth different side overall to achieve this, after Arsenal (1992-93), Liverpool (2000-01 and 2021-22), Chelsea (2006-07) and Manchester City (2018-19).

● City are yet to concede a goal in this season’s FA Cup. In the Football League era (since 1888-89), only two teams have won the trophy without conceding a goal – Preston North End in 1889 and Bury in 1903.

● City are the highest scorers in this season’s FA Cup (first round onwards) with 17 goals. The last team to score more in a single campaign were the Citizens themselves, netting 26 en-route to lifting the trophy in 2019.

● Having won 3-1 in each round from the third to the quarter-final in this season’s FA Cup, United reached the final by beating Brighton on penalties after a 0-0 draw. No team has ever been involved in a shootout in both the semi-final and final within the same FA Cup campaign before.

● United boss Erik ten Hag will be the fourth different Dutch manager to take charge of a team in an FA Cup Final, after Ruud Gullit (W1 L1), Guus Hiddink (W1) and Louis van Gaal (W1).

● Spanish managers have won the FA Cup on four occasions – Rafael Benítez with Liverpool in 2006, Roberto Martínez with Wigan in 2013, Mikel Arteta with Arsenal in 2020 and City’s Pep Guardiola in 2019. The only Spanish manager to lose an FA Cup final was Javier Gracia with Watford, who lost to compatriot Guardiola in 2019.

● In their 3-0 semi-final win over Sheffield United, Riyad Mahrez became the first Manchester City player to score a hat-trick at Wembley Stadium. Overall he’s scored four times at Wembley for City, with only Sergio Agüero netting more for the Citizens at the ground (6).

● Marcus Rashford and Casemiro were on target for Manchester United in their League Cup final win against Newcastle. There have been five players to score in both major domestic cup finals for the Red Devils – Norman Whiteside, Mark Hughes, Brian McClair, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesse Lingard.

● Erling Haaland has scored 52 goals in all competitions for Manchester City so far this season – he could become the first ever Norwegian player to score in the FA Cup Final.

● Kevin De Bruyne is the only Manchester City player who scored in their 6-0 FA Cup final victory over Watford in 2019 still at the club. He could become the second player to score in two different FA Cup Finals for the club, after Bobby Johnstone (1955 and 1956).

● Since his FA Cup debut for the club in 2019, Riyad Mahrez has scored more goals in the competition proper than any other player (11). He’s scored five so far this season – the last time a City player scored more in a single season was in 1933-34 (Fred Tilson, 9).

 

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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FA Cup

Haaland suffers another Wembley blank after turning down penalty

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 FA Cup - Final - Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 17, 2025 Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts REUTERS/David Klein

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised that Norwegian striker Erling Haaland declined to take a penalty for his side in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace with the kick subsequently being missed by Omar Marmoush.

Trailing 1-0 to Eberechi Eze’s goal, City were awarded a penalty in the first half when Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell tripped Bernardo Silva who had burst into the area.

Haaland, who had failed to score in his first five Wembley appearances for City, looked poised to break that duck, but handed the ball to Marmoush whose first-ever penalty for City was superbly saved by Dean Henderson.

“I thought he would want to take it but they didn’t speak,” said Guardiola. “That moment for the penalty, it’s the feeling and how they feel. They decided Omar was ready to take it.

“Omar took a lot of time when the ball was stopped, so it put more pressure on him, and Henderson made a good save.”

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Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, working as a TV pundit for the BBC, said he felt the occasion might have got to Haaland.

“He’s a world-class forward, but when we are talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no way they are giving that ball away,” Rooney said.

“That is what separates them two players from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe and these players. They are selfish and they want to score every game.

“When (Haaland) misses chances I think you can see it gets to him and it does affect him. Maybe the thought of taking a penalty at Wembley might have been too much for him. You never know, he is a human being.”

Haaland has scored 30 goals for City this season in all competitions but has missed three of his seven penalties.

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-Reuters

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FA Cup

Palace fans head to FA Cup final still hurting from 1990

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A combination picture shows Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, the FA Cup trophy and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola ahead of the FA Cup Final. May 14, 2025 REUTERS 

Crystal Palace face Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday hoping to lift the FA Cup for the first time and it is guaranteed that high on the pre-match agenda will be the club’s extraordinary and eventually heartbreaking 1990 campaign.

The semi-finals and final(s) that year were arguably the most dramatic in the competition’s long and storied history and remain the emotional high and low point of every Palace fan who watched them.

Palace were struggling in the top flight after promotion and had been humiliated 9-0 by Liverpool early in the season.

In the Cup they were hardly pulling up trees either, beating lower league Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and Cambridge United to reach the semi-finals for the first time since they lost to Southampton as a third division team in 1976.

Facing runaway champions-elect and FA Cup holders Liverpool again in the semis look an insurmountable barrier and an Ian Rush goal had the Reds ahead at halftime at Villa Park.

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Things then went crazy as Mark Bright and Gary O’Reilly gave Palace a shock lead. Two goals in two minutes put Liverpool back in front, only for Andy Gray to stun the odds-on favourites in the 88th minute to force extra time.

Amazingly, it was Palace who snatched victory in the 109th minute via Alan Pardew, who would later manage the club.

It was the first year that both semi-finals were live on TV and barely had the excitement abated when similarly unfancied Oldham ran out to face Manchester United at Maine Road.

The second division team had not beaten top-flight opposition in 66 years but accounted for four that season in a double cup run that caught the nation’s imagination.

Playing vibrant, attacking football under Joe Royle, Oldham twice came from behind to draw 3-3 after extra time – meaning a remarkable 13 goals had been scored on a day of unimaginable drama. United ended Oldham’s dream when they snatched a 2-1 victory six minutes from the end of extra time in the replay.

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ALL-ENGLISH TEAM

The Palace side who lined up at Wembley were the last all-English team to play in the final while United’s were the last all-UK lineup to win it.

United manager Alex Ferguson was under huge pressure to deliver a trophy four years after arriving at Old Trafford, but Palace struck first through O’Reilly.

Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes turned it round and United seemed on course for victory, only for Ian Wright to come off the bench for the most wonderful 20 minutes of his life.

The former non-league striker had been sidelined for much of the season with a twice-broken leg, but exploded into action to equalise with virtually his first touch and then put the Londoners ahead early in extra time.

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“It’s still the greatest moment I’ve had in my career – easily – simply because of everything that it had entailed up to that point,” Wright told the Palace website on Friday.

“My emergence at Palace, and to reach the biggest stage in English football, and all of a sudden I’m on the Wembley pitch.

“And then what happened after that was the stuff of fairytales. It really, really was.”

However, as the Palace fans sang in dreamland, Hughes broke their hearts with a late equaliser.

The replay five days later could not live up to everything that had gone before and though Palace battled gamely, United won it 1-0 with a goal by Lee Martin.

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It was a victory that launched Ferguson and United on their dizzying journey of success – that included another extra-time FA Cup final win over Palace in 2016 after the Scot had retired – but one that left a gaping hole in the hearts of the losers.

“I would have loved to have won that FA Cup, and we were only seven minutes away,” said Wright, who went on to win multiple trophies, including two FA Cups with Arsenal. “Seven minutes. Honestly, I still can’t take it.”

-Reuters

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FA Cup

Eight-minute VAR check at Bournemouth is new English record

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 FA Cup - Fifth Round - AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - March 1, 2025 A big screen displays a VAR review message Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra 

The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.

Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.

However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.

Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.

The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.

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Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.

Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.

-Reuters

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