09/06/2023
The 2022/23 FA Cup final programme.
Manchester City 2
Manchester United1
First half
Just 12 seconds into the match, İlkay Gündoğan opened the scoring for Manchester City with a right-footed volley from just outside the penalty area, making it the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history. The previous fastest goal was Louis Saha's in the 2009 final for Everton which came after 25 seconds. City pushed for a second goal soon after, as a free-kick into the United penalty area by Kevin De Bruyne was narrowly headed wide by Rodri. Erling Haaland also had a chance to double City's lead, but an effort from him ended up drifting over the goal. United soon began to develop a spell of possession themselves, and they were rewarded for one of their brief forays into the City half as the VAR controversially concluded that the ball had struck Jack Grealish's fingertip inside the penalty area. Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty for United, to make it 1–1 after 33 minutes. United did not let up in their spell of dominance in the final minutes of the first half, as Raphaël Varane had a chance from a corner to slot the ball into the net but hit his effort over the bar.
Second half
In the 51st minute, De Bruyne whipped in a free-kick towards the United penalty area which fell to Gündoğan from just outside the area who then struck the ball first time with his left foot into the bottom left hand corner of the net, with David de Gea unable to keep out, for his second of the match and regain City's lead early in the second half. City kept up their pressure on United as the second half progressed, as De Bruyne found himself with a good chance running towards goal but his resulting effort was saved by de Gea's foot. United then began to pile more pressure themselves, as an effort from just outside the City penalty area from Marcus Rashford flew over the bar. At the other end of the field, City thought they had scored a third after an effort from Haaland was saved by de Gea before Gündoğan put the ball in the net from the rebound for what would have been his hat-trick. However, the goal was immediately disallowed by the referee after Gündoğan was shown to have been in an offside position when Haaland tried the initial shot. City did come close again to scoring a third, as a ball across the face of the United goal from Bernardo Silva was nearly tapped in at the back post by Manuel Akanji. Into the latter stages of the match, United's desperate search for an equaliser nearly earned them a goal as Alejandro Garnacho fired narrowly wide of the far post from the left hand side of the penalty area, before substitute Scott McTominay controlled the ball down inside the City penalty area, where Varane attempted to slot the ball into the net but was thwarted by Stefan Ortega. The ball bounced up off the crossbar, and was headed narrowly over courtesy of desperate defending from City. The match ended after six minutes of stoppage time, with City winning 2–1.
