2023 FA Cup Final: Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United
The Manchester Final

The footage

▶

2023

The match report

The two Manchester clubs had met each other in league matches, in derbies that decided titles, and in cup ties in every round the FA Cup has. They had never once met with a trophy on the table. The FA's own preview of this match put it in a single flat sentence: this was the first ever major final between Manchester City and Manchester United. It was the 142nd FA Cup final.[3][4]

It took 12 seconds to become memorable. From the kick-off the ball came out to Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the penalty area and City's captain hit a first-time right-footed volley past David de Gea. It is the fastest goal ever scored in an FA Cup final, and it displaced a mark of 25 seconds set by Louis Saha for Everton against Chelsea in 2009. Saha, as the FA's own report notes, was a former Manchester United striker.[1][6]

United's way back was handed to them. Aaron Wan-Bissaka headed the ball across the face of goal and it struck Jack Grealish on the hand. Paul Tierney checked the video review, pointed to the spot, and Bruno Fernandes sent Stefan Ortega the wrong way.[1][5]

That penalty was the first goal Manchester City had conceded in the entire competition. They had come through five ties before Wembley without their net being touched, scoring 17 and letting in nothing, beating Chelsea, Arsenal, Bristol City, Burnley and Sheffield United along the way. Fernandes' penalty was also the last goal they conceded in it. City finished the 2022-23 FA Cup having scored 19 and conceded one, and that one arrived from twelve yards in the final.[3][5]

Six minutes after the interval Gundogan did it again. De Bruyne chipped a free-kick into the area, Gundogan let it drop, shifted his balance and volleyed it into the bottom corner with his weaker left foot. Two goals in a cup final, both volleys, both struck from beyond the edge of the box, both by the midfielder wearing the armband.[1][5]

United had reached Wembley by a route with a strange rhythm to it. Everton, Reading, West Ham United and Fulham were each beaten by exactly 3-1, four identical scorelines in a row, a run the FA noted in its own pre-match briefing. Then the semi-final against Brighton and Hove Albion ended goalless after extra time and went to a shoot-out that United won 7-6. Nothing about the pattern survived contact with the final.[3][5]

Ten Hag emptied his bench and United pressed in the added minutes without finding a way through. City had held the middle of the pitch for most of the afternoon and saw it out. It was their seventh FA Cup, and it was won with Stefan Ortega in goal rather than Ederson: the FA's own report records that Guardiola stayed loyal to his second-choice keeper and regular cup shot-stopper for the final. The treble was still standing when City walked off, with Inter Milan and a Champions League final in Istanbul a week away.[1][3]

The kick-off time told a story of its own. The police graded the fixture high risk, and the final was moved to a 15:00 start, the first FA Cup final to begin at that traditional hour since 2011. An early kick-off on a Saturday is the arrangement that lets supporters get home again by train.[5][4]

There were no trains. The RMT struck on the eve of the final and the train drivers' union struck on the day of it, and the FA's own matchday guide told ticket holders there would be no trains running at all on the Saturday and that they should organise alternative travel to Wembley by coach or car. Avanti West Coast confirmed nothing would run on the West Coast Main Line, which is the railway between Manchester and London. The attendance was 83,179. The final the year before, Chelsea against Liverpool, drew 84,897. When the same two Manchester clubs came back to Wembley the following May, on an ordinary Saturday with a working railway, 84,814 came. The first all-Manchester final in the history of the FA Cup was watched by a smaller Wembley crowd than the finals on either side of it.[4][7][8][9]

How the match unfolded

1. 1'Straight from the kick-off the ball is worked out to Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the penalty area and he volleys it first time past David de Gea. The FA timed it at 12 seconds. The first ball De Gea touches in a cup final is one he is picking out of his own net.[1][6]
2. 33'Aaron Wan-Bissaka heads the ball across the face of goal and it strikes Jack Grealish on the hand. Paul Tierney awards the penalty after a video review and Bruno Fernandes sends Stefan Ortega the wrong way.[1][5]
3. 51'Kevin De Bruyne chips a free-kick to the edge of the area, Gundogan lets it drop and volleys it in with his weaker left foot. Two goals in one final, both volleys, both struck from outside the box.[1][5]
4. 62'Erik ten Hag makes the first change of the afternoon, Alejandro Garnacho on for Christian Eriksen as United look for pace running in behind.[5][6]
5. 76'De Bruyne is withdrawn for Phil Foden, with a Champions League final in Istanbul a week away.[5][6]
6. 78'Wout Weghorst replaces Jadon Sancho and United go more direct.[5][6]
7. 83'Scott McTominay comes on for Victor Lindelof. Ten Hag takes off a centre-back to chase the equaliser.[5][6]
8. 89'Nathan Ake on for Grealish, City shutting down the flank they had been attacking all afternoon.[5][6]
9. 90'United press in stoppage time without finding the goal. Aymeric Laporte replaces Kyle Walker deep into the added minutes and City see the cup out.[5][6]

Match facts

Date

Saturday 3 June 2023

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance

83,179The gate figure, given identically by Wikipedia and by Sky Sports. It is lower than the crowd at the final before it and lower than the crowd when the same two clubs returned to Wembley for the next one. A national rail strike ran on the day of this match, with a second strike the evening before, and the FA told ticket holders to travel by coach or car.[5][6]

Referee

Paul Tierney (Lancashire FA)[2][6]

Scorers

Ilkay Gundogan 1'
Bruno Fernandes 33'
Ilkay Gundogan 51'[1][5]

Competition

2022-23 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

Line-ups

Trivia and detail

• Manchester City arrived at Wembley without having conceded a goal anywhere in the competition. In the Football League era, only two clubs have ever won the FA Cup without conceding at all: Preston North End in 1889 and Bury in 1903.[3]
• The record Gundogan broke belonged to Louis Saha, who scored after 25 seconds in the 2009 final for Everton against Chelsea. Saha had previously played for Manchester United, so the fastest goal in an FA Cup final passed from a former United forward to a City captain in a final between the two Manchester clubs.[1]
• This was Manchester United's 21st FA Cup final, level with Arsenal for the most appearances in the competition's history. Manchester City were making their 12th.[3]
• Erik ten Hag became the fourth different Dutch manager to take charge of a side in an FA Cup final, after Ruud Gullit, Guus Hiddink and Louis van Gaal.[3]
• It was only the third meeting between the two clubs at the current Wembley Stadium. The other two both fell in 2011, an FA Cup semi-final that City won and a Community Shield that United won.[3]
• Going into the final, United had won five of the previous six FA Cup meetings between the clubs, the most recent of them in January 2012. The one with a trophy attached went the other way.[3]
• Erling Haaland did not score. The FA had flagged in its own pre-match briefing that he could become the first Norwegian to score in an FA Cup final, and the chance went unclaimed.[3]
• Paul Tierney had walked out at Wembley on cup final day before, carrying a flag. He was an assistant referee at the 2010 final between Chelsea and Portsmouth.[2]
• The win gave Manchester City the league and FA Cup double for the second time in the club's history, after 2018-19. Only Manchester United and Arsenal had previously done the double more than once.[3]
• The final fell in the centenary year of the first FA Cup final staged at Wembley, the 1923 meeting of Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United remembered for the white horse.[5]

How well do you know the 2023 final?

Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.

1. How quickly did Ilkay Gundogan score the opening goal of the 2023 FA Cup final?

   12 seconds25 secondsAbout two minutesJust before half-time
   Answer

   12 seconds. The FA timed the volley at 12 seconds from the kick-off, the fastest goal in the history of the FA Cup final.[1][6]

2. Whose record for the fastest goal in an FA Cup final did Gundogan break?

   Louis SahaRoberto Di MatteoErling HaalandSteven Gerrard
   Answer

   Louis Saha. Saha scored after 25 seconds for Everton against Chelsea in the 2009 final. He had previously played for Manchester United.[1]

3. How many goals had Manchester City conceded in the competition before Bruno Fernandes scored his penalty?

   NoneOneThreeFive
   Answer

   None. The FA's pre-match briefing recorded that City had not conceded in that season's FA Cup. The penalty in the final was the only goal they let in all competition.[3][5]

4. Why were supporters told to reach Wembley by coach or car?

   A national rail strike meant no trains ran on the dayWembley Park station was closed for engineering workThe stadium car parks had been given over to broadcastersFlooding had closed the roads around the stadium
   Answer

   A national rail strike meant no trains ran on the day. The FA's matchday guide said there would be no trains at all on final day, and Avanti West Coast confirmed nothing would run on the West Coast Main Line.[4][7]

5. Which county FA does the FA's own appointment announcement give for assistant referee Scott Ledger?

   Sheffield and Hallamshire FASouth Yorkshire FAWest Riding FALiverpool FA
   Answer

   Sheffield and Hallamshire FA. The FA's announcement of 17 May 2023 lists Ledger under Sheffield and Hallamshire FA. Wikipedia files him under a South Yorkshire FA, which does not exist.[2][5]

What is not settled

Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:

• The county FA affiliations of three officials are contested. Wikipedia gives Scott Ledger as South Yorkshire FA, Peter Bankes as Merseyside FA and Adrian Holmes as West Yorkshire FA; the FA's own appointment announcement gives Sheffield and Hallamshire FA, Liverpool FA and West Riding FA. We publish the FA's version and record the disagreement here.
• Manchester City's shape is given as 4-3-3 by Sky Sports and by Wikipedia, and the pitch on this page is drawn from that. ESPN describes the same eleven players as a 3-2-4-1. Both are descriptions of the same team sheet, and the team sheet itself is not in doubt.
• The link between the rail strike and the size of the crowd is our own analysis. The strike, the FA's travel advice and the three attendance figures are each separately sourced; no source we found states the causal connection outright.
• Gundogan's opening goal is recorded as a first-minute goal in every scoreline convention. The FA's match report is the source for the 12 second timing; some accounts round it differently.
• The exact minute of a Gundogan effort ruled out for offside, and of Scott McTominay's shot against the woodwork, were not established to our satisfaction and are therefore not given as timed events.
• No footage has been verified for this final yet, so the television shows no signal rather than an unchecked embed.

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, 3 June 2023 · The Football Association
• The FA, 17 May 2023, match officials announcement with county FA affiliations · The Football Association
• The FA, 30 May 2023, pre-match stats briefing · The Football Association
• The FA, 1 June 2023, supporters' travel and matchday guide · The Football Association

Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.

Sources

1. Dazzling Gundogan double delivers Manchester City derby day Emirates FA Cup glory · The Football Association
2. Paul Tierney to referee 2023 Emirates FA Cup Final · The Football Association
3. FA Cup Final 2023 stats and facts: Manchester City v Manchester United · The Football Association
4. Fans' matchday guide for 2023 FA Cup Final: Manchester City v Manchester United · The Football Association
5. 2023 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
6. Man City 2-1 Man Utd, team news, line-ups and match facts · Sky Sports
7. Rail strikes: Saturday 3 June, the FA Cup Final · London TravelWatch
8. 2022 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
9. 2024 FA Cup final · Wikipedia

Elsewhere in the encyclopedia

These two clubs have met in a final before

• 2024 Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United

Other finals involving these clubs

• 1979 Manchester United: Arsenal 3-2 Manchester United
• 2011 Manchester City: Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City
• 2013 Manchester City: Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester City
• 2016 Manchester United: Crystal Palace 2-1 Manchester United
• 2018 Manchester United: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
• 2019 Manchester City: Manchester City 6-0 Watford

Other finals at Wembley Stadium

• 2008 Cardiff City 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2009 Chelsea 2-1 Everton
• 2010 Chelsea 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2011 Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City
• 2012 Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 2013 Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester City

Elsewhere on WhatChan