The treble is finally in sight for Manchester City. Man City had one of the most professional, clinical performances of their season as they easily beat Man United 2-1 in the FA Cup final to capture their second trophy of the season, leaving a win in the Champions League final the last hurdle before a treble win.
Man City really are an unstoppable force.
Manchester City brushed aside the last hurdle of English football this season as they beat archrivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final to cap off their domestic double, yet the final hurdle of the season awaits against Inter Milan in the Champions League final as a treble win hangs in the balance. And, even though I’m a Man United fan, I can’t help but applaud Man City for being the best team in the world as I think they’re going to make history.
You never want to give credit to a rival club, and especially one that both competes in the same city and has essentially supplanted your status atop the league, but Manchester City more than deserved that FA Cup win with how they performed.
Putting aside Ilkay Gundogan’s, who is one of the most underrated players in world football, sensational volley to open the scoring after 13 seconds and his GWG and his not-so-sensational volley five minutes into the second half, Manchester City completed bossed this game without having to even break a sweat, let alone put in a heroic effort.
City dominated possession 60%-40%, they had more total shots (13 vs. 11), they had more shots on target (5 vs. 3), they had more passes (517 vs. 343), they had a far better passing accuracy (87% vs. 78%), they were the more aggressive, physical side (12 fouls vs. 11), and they did so without actually giving up any meaningful United chance.
Sure, Bruno Fernandes buried a penalty kick right before the half to tie the game and there were some half chances (i.e.: Marcus Rashford’s swerving miss in the 68th minute, Garnacho’s shot in the 71st minute, and Scott McTominay’s header in stoppage time) that nearly leveled the game at 2, but City had at least two “A+” chances of their own for every Man United chance.
Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Gundogan (who scored an offside goal as well), Kevin De Bruyne, and Rodri all had 2-3 chances that could have made this game 5 or 6-1, so it’s not like Man United were hard done by luck or the Football Gods. They just got outplayed…substantially.
And, some United fans will attack the players for being soft and cowardly when faced with the pressure of winning, which is true for some guys, but the real truth is simpler than a blame game: Manchester City are just a far superior team than Man United.
Seriously, City had Julian Alvarez, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Kalvin Philips, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis, and Ederson (who is the usual starter) on their bench and ready to replace any one of the starters without a serious drop off, while Man United brought on Wout Weghorst, Scott McTominay, and had Harry Maguire, Anthony Elanga, Facundo Pellistri, and two fullbacks (Diogo Dalot and Tyrell Malacia) at their disposal.
See what I mean when I say Man City are just far superior?
They completely controlled possession and the tempo of the game from the first minute to the last minute and stripped United and their fans of any hope as quickly as possible with Gundogan’s 15-second strike and his early 2nd half goal…which is what super teams do.
Like I said, I think City will be the first English team since the 1998/99 Manchester United squad to complete the historic treble (Premier League win, FA Cup win, and the Champions League win) as Inter Milan are not even close to being better than Manchester United or Arsenal, yet every underdog will have their day.
And maybe Inter Milan can stop City from achieving the dream of every City fan.
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