2018-19 FA Cup · The Final
2019 FA Cup Final: Manchester City 6-0 Watford
The official record credits Gabriel Jesus with the second goal, but the rightsholder's own channel still sells this final as a Raheem Sterling hat-trick, and untangling the two is the one thing a paraphrase of this match never does.
Manchester City won the FA Cup 6-0, equalling the biggest win in the final's history and completing the first domestic treble by an English men's club. Six goals, four scorers, and a second goal whose scorer took an hour to settle.
Saturday 18 May 2019 · Wembley Stadium
What you will not find elsewhere
The hat-trick that wasn't, which the rightsholder's own channel still advertises
Plenty of coverage of this final still describes a Raheem Sterling hat-trick. The Emirates FA Cup's own YouTube channel hosts a video of the match titled Sterling's Hat-Trick in FA Cup Final Win! The official record says otherwise. City's second goal was initially awarded to Sterling by Opta, but within an hour of the final whistle the Football Association confirmed Gabriel Jesus as the scorer: Jesus's touch from Bernardo Silva's cross was already crossing the line when Sterling made sure from a matter of millimetres. Sterling finished with two goals, the 81st and 87th, and when asked on the pitch whether he thought the second was his, answered that he hadn't got a Scooby-Doo. No player has scored a hat-trick in an FA Cup final since Stan Mortensen in 1953, and despite the rightsholder's title, this final did not change that.[3][4][6][5]
Two routes to Wembley, added up
Reading both route tables line by line: Manchester City won their six ties by an aggregate of 26-3, every victory by at least two goals except the single-goal wins over Swansea City and Brighton, and 14 of the 26 came against Championship or League Two opposition. Watford's route was tighter and harder travelled: three consecutive away wins at Woking, Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers without conceding, a one-goal home win over Crystal Palace, and a semi-final in which they trailed Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 with eleven minutes of normal time left before Deulofeu scored twice and Deeney equalised with a penalty four minutes into added time. Watford scored ten goals in five ties to reach the final. City then scored six against them in one afternoon.[5][3]
The footage
The match report
Manchester City beat Watford 6-0 at Wembley on Saturday 18 May 2019 to win the 138th FA Cup final and complete the first domestic treble by an English men's club: Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup in a single season. The scoreline equalled the biggest win in the final's history, matching Bury's 6-0 defeat of Derby County in 1903, and made City only the third side to score six goals in a final, after Blackburn Rovers against Sheffield Wednesday in 1890 and Bury.[1][5][3]
Watford, appearing in their second final thirty-five years after their first, had the best early chance. Around the ten-minute mark they cleared a City corner and countered at speed, Gerard Deulofeu finding Roberto Pereyra, whose low drive was saved by the legs of Ederson. In the 21st minute Abdoulaye Doucoure's shot struck Vincent Kompany's arm in the City area; after consultation with the video assistant referee, Kevin Friend declined to award a penalty and booked Doucoure for his protests.[1][5][3]
City led in the 26th minute. Sterling's shot was blocked by Adrian Mariappa, Sterling recovered to head the loose ball into David Silva's path, and Silva swept an angled shot beyond Heurelho Gomes. The second goal, in the 38th minute, became the final's lingering argument: Bernardo Silva's in-swinging cross was prodded goalwards by Gabriel Jesus ahead of Kiko Femenia, and Sterling forced it over the line from a matter of millimetres. Opta initially gave the goal to Sterling, which would have left him one short of a hat-trick; within an hour of the final whistle the FA confirmed Jesus as the scorer.[1][3][4]
The second half belonged to a substitute. Kevin De Bruyne replaced Riyad Mahrez after 55 minutes and scored within six of them, rounding Gomes from Jesus's square pass on the counter-attack in the 61st minute. He then slipped Jesus through for the fourth on 68 minutes, before Sterling struck twice late on: unmarked at the back post from Bernardo Silva's cross in the 81st minute, and on the rebound in the 87th after Gomes pushed his first shot onto the post. De Bruyne, on the pitch for barely a third of the match, was named man of the match.[1][3][4]
The gulf between the sides had been there all season. City finished the league campaign 48 points above Watford, who came 11th, and won both league meetings between the clubs. The cup run produced 26 City goals across six ties, and the final made Guardiola the eighth manager to win the English league title and both domestic cups, a list that runs through Bill Nicholson, Don Revie, Joe Mercer, Kenny Dalglish, George Graham, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.[3][5]
The aftermath reshaped both clubs' summers. The day after the final Kompany announced he was leaving City after eleven years to become player-manager of Anderlecht, making this his last match for the club. Gomes, who had intended the final to be his farewell, reversed his retirement and signed a one-year contract extension. Because City were already in the Champions League, their Europa League place passed to seventh-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, the team Watford had beaten in the semi-final. City returned to Wembley in August and beat Liverpool on penalties in the Community Shield.[5][3]
How the match unfolded
- 4'Aymeric Laporte fires the game's first shot, a long-range effort that flies over Watford's crossbar.[5]
- 10'Watford clear a Riyad Mahrez corner and counter at speed. Gerard Deulofeu finds Roberto Pereyra, whose low drive is saved by the legs of Ederson. It is Watford's best chance of the match; Sky Sports times it at the 11th minute.[1][5][3]
- 21'Abdoulaye Doucoure's shot strikes Vincent Kompany's arm in the City area. After consultation with video assistant referee Andre Marriner, Kevin Friend declines to award a penalty and books Doucoure for his protests, the first yellow card of the game.[1][5][3]
- 26'City lead. Raheem Sterling's shot is blocked by Adrian Mariappa, Sterling recovers to head the loose ball into David Silva's path, and Silva sweeps an angled shot beyond Heurelho Gomes.[1][3]
- 38'Two-nil. Gabriel Jesus nips ahead of Kiko Femenia to prod Bernardo Silva's in-swinging cross goalwards, and Sterling forces it over the line from a matter of millimetres. Opta initially awards the goal to Sterling; after the match it is officially credited to Jesus.[1][3][4]
- 45'Half-time. City lead 2-0, Watford still in the contest.[4][1]
- 55'Kevin De Bruyne replaces Mahrez, City's first substitution.[1]
- 61'Three-nil. Sterling feeds Jesus on the counter-attack, Jesus squares to De Bruyne, and the substitute dummies Gomes before finishing from close range.[1][4]
- 66'Watford make a double change: Andre Gray and Isaac Success replace Deulofeu and Pereyra. The Guardian's live report logs the change a minute earlier.[1][4]
- 68'Four-nil. De Bruyne slips Jesus through and the Brazilian finishes low underneath Gomes on the counter-attack.[1][3]
- 73'Leroy Sane replaces Ilkay Gundogan for City; Tom Cleverley replaces Will Hughes for Watford.[1][4]
- 79'John Stones replaces the opening goalscorer David Silva.[1][4]
- 80'Femenia is booked for a foul on Sane.[4][1]
- 81'Five-nil. Sterling arrives unmarked at the back post to convert Bernardo Silva's cross.[1][4]
- 87'Six-nil. Gomes pushes Sterling's first shot onto the post and Sterling turns in the rebound from close range.[1][4]
- 92'Gomes saves a Stones strike from around ten yards before Friend blows the final whistle. City have won the FA Cup and completed the domestic treble.[4][5]
Match facts
- Date
- Saturday 18 May 2019
- Venue
- Wembley Stadium, London
- Attendance
- 85,854The figure printed in the FA's own match report and carried by the standard reference works.[1][5]
- Scorers
- David Silva 26'
Gabriel Jesus 38'
Kevin De Bruyne 61'
Gabriel Jesus 68'
Raheem Sterling 81'
Raheem Sterling 87'[1][5][3] - Half-time
- 2-0
- Competition
- 2018-19 FA Cup
Where they played
Both sides as they lined up. Choose any player to read what they did in this final.
Select a shirt for that player's note.
Route to the final
Manchester City
- Third round: Rotherham United (h) won 7-0
- Fourth round: Burnley (h) won 5-0
- Fifth round: Newport County (a) won 4-1
- Quarter-final: Swansea City (a) won 3-2
- Semi-final: Brighton & Hove Albion (Wembley) won 1-0
Watford
- Third round: Woking (a) won 2-0
- Fourth round: Newcastle United (a) won 2-0
- Fifth round: Queens Park Rangers (a) won 1-0
- Quarter-final: Crystal Palace (h) won 2-1
- Semi-final: Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wembley) won 3-2 after extra time
Line-ups
Manchester City · 4-3-3
- Ederson Goalkeeper. Saved Watford's best chance, Pereyra's early low drive, with his legs
- Kyle Walker Right back
- Vincent Kompany Captain. His arm was struck in the VAR penalty check; this was his final game for the club
- Aymeric Laporte Centre back. Fired the game's first shot over the bar
- Oleksandr Zinchenko Left back
- Bernardo Silva Crossed for the second goal and again for the fifth
- Ilkay Gundogan Central midfield. Substituted in the second half
- David Silva Opened the scoring, his first goal in 28 games, and was later booked
- Riyad Mahrez Right of the front three. Made way for De Bruyne
- Gabriel Jesus Scored the second and fourth goals, and made the third
- Raheem Sterling Scored the fifth and sixth, and came within millimetres of a final hat-trick
Watford · 4-4-1-1
- Heurelho Gomes Goalkeeper, preferred to Ben Foster on what was meant to be his final match before retirement
- Kiko Femenia Right back. Beaten by Jesus for the second goal and booked late on
- Adrian Mariappa Centre back, recalled in place of Christian Kabasele
- Craig Cathcart Centre back
- Jose Holebas Left back. Cleared to play only when his final-day red card was rescinded five days before the final
- Will Hughes Right of the midfield four. Substituted in the second half
- Etienne Capoue Central midfield
- Abdoulaye Doucoure Booked for protesting when his shot struck Kompany's arm and no penalty was given
- Roberto Pereyra Had Watford's best chance, saved by Ederson with the game goalless
- Gerard Deulofeu The two-goal hero of the semi-final comeback, substituted here with the game lost
- Troy Deeney Captain
Trivia and detail
- Kevin De Bruyne was named man of the match despite playing only 35 minutes, replacing Riyad Mahrez in the 55th minute. He scored with his side's third goal and made the fourth.[1][5]
- Raheem Sterling grew up in the shadow of Wembley. After the match he told the BBC: I grew up here and saw this stadium get built.[4][3]
- Kevin Friend had been fourth official at the 2014 final between Arsenal and Hull City, and had refereed the 2012 Community Shield and the 2013 League Cup final before getting the FA Cup final itself.[2]
- Jose Holebas was sent off on the last day of the Premier League season and would have been suspended for the final, but the red card was rescinded on 13 May, five days before the match.[5]
- Watford's semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers was one of the great comebacks: 2-0 down with eleven minutes left, they won 3-2 in extra time, Gerard Deulofeu scoring twice and Troy Deeney converting a penalty four minutes into added time.[5]
- The traditional pre-match hymn Abide with Me was performed by the Band of the Scots Guards and a mixed choir, and former finalists Luther Blissett and Tony Book brought the trophy out before the teams were introduced to the Duke of Cambridge.[5]
- City were the first English top-flight side to win 50 matches in all competitions in a single season, and the fourth men's team to win both domestic cups in one season after Arsenal in 1992-93, Liverpool in 2000-01 and Chelsea in 2006-07.[3]
How well do you know the 2019 final?
Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.
-
Who scored the first goal of the 2019 FA Cup final?
-
Who was officially credited with Manchester City's second goal?
-
Which substitute came on, scored, and was named man of the match?
-
The 6-0 scoreline equalled the record winning margin in an FA Cup final, set by which match?
-
What did Manchester City complete by winning this final?
What is not settled
Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:
- The scorer of the second goal is settled officially but not culturally. Opta awarded it to Sterling on the day; the FA confirmed Jesus within an hour of the final whistle. The rightsholder's own YouTube channel still titles its video of the match as a Sterling hat-trick. We publish Jesus, twice.
- Watford's double substitution is logged at the 66th minute by the FA's report and the standard line-up table, and at the 65th by The Guardian's minute-by-minute. We publish 66.
- Pereyra's early chance is timed at the 10th minute by the standard account and at the 11th by Sky Sports. The FA's report does not time it.
- The framing of City's 26 cup goals differs between sources: the standard account calls it the most by a cup-winning team since 1925-26, while Opta's figures via Sky Sports call it the most by any team in a single season since 1945-46. We record the 26 and publish neither framing as settled.
- No full-match upload from the rightsholder could be found for this final; the official channel carries extended highlights only. Highlights candidates have been proposed for verification.
How we know
Every claim on this page is tied to a numbered source below. These are the contemporary records behind it, each one fetched and matched word for word before publication rather than taken on trust:
- The FA official match report, 18 May 2019: line-ups, goals, bookings, referee and attendance · The Football Association
- The FA match officials announcement, 29 April 2019 · The Football Association
Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.
Sources
- Emirates FA Cup Final: Man City 6-0 Watford · The Football Association
- Kevin Friend will referee the 2019 Emirates FA Cup Final · The Football Association
- Man City 6-0 Watford: City thrash Hornets in FA Cup final to claim domestic treble · Sky Sports
- Manchester City 6-0 Watford: FA Cup final - as it happened · The Guardian
- 2019 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
- Sterling's Hat-Trick in FA Cup Final Win! | Manchester City 6-0 Watford | Emirates FA Cup 2018/19 · The Emirates FA Cup (YouTube)