 The match took place atWembley Stadium | |||||||
| Event | 2023–24 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 25 May 2024 (2024-05-25) | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 84,814 | ||||||
| Weather | Sunny | ||||||
←2023 2025 → | |||||||
The2024 FA Cup final was afootball match played atWembley Stadium in London, England, on 25 May 2024 to determine the winners of the2023–24 FA Cup, Manchester United. It was the143rd final of English football's primary cup competition in theFootball Association Challenge Cup.
The final was contested between holdersManchester City andlocal rivalsManchester United. The match was a repeat of theprevious final, which City won 2–1.[3] It was the second time the two sides have met in the final, and was the first to feature the same teams in consecutive seasons since1885.
Manchester United won the match for their 13th FA Cup title, avenging their defeat by the same scoreline in the previous season. As winners, Manchester United qualified for the league phase of the2024–25 UEFA Europa League. They also qualified for the2024 FA Community Shield, where they faced City as the league champions. As theirwomen's team won the2024 Women's FA Cup final, Manchester United became the fifth club, and the first since City in 2019, to win both the men's and women's FA Cup in the same season.[4]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Huddersfield Town (H) | 5–0 |
| 4th | Tottenham Hotspur (A) | 1–0 |
| 5th | Luton Town (A) | 6–2 |
| QF | Newcastle United (H) | 2–0 |
| SF | Chelsea (N) | 1–0 |
| Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) =Neutral venue | ||
Manchester City entered the tournament in the third round, as aPremier League team. They began with a 5–0 home victory overHuddersfield Town at theEtihad Stadium with two goals for City fromPhil Foden, one fromJulián Álvarez, anown goal fromBen Jackson andJérémy Doku.[5] They then defeatedTottenham Hotspur away in the fourth round in a 1–0 victory with a sole goal for City fromNathan Aké.[6] In the fifth round, they beatLuton Town 6–2 away atKenilworth Road with five goals fromErling Haaland and one fromMateo Kovačić and two goals for Luton fromJordan Clark.[7]
In the quarter-final match, Manchester City hostedNewcastle United at the Etihad Stadium where they came out 2–0 winners in the end which put them through to the semi-finals with two goals for City fromBernardo Silva.[8] In the semi-final match, held at the neutral venue ofWembley Stadium, Manchester City defeatedChelsea in a 1–0 victory to qualify for a second consecutive FA Cup final with the sole goal for City from Silva.[9] This was the third time that City played in consecutive FA Cup finals, having previously done so in the1933 and1934 as well as1955 and1956 finals.
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Wigan Athletic (A) | 2–0 |
| 4th | Newport County (A) | 4–2 |
| 5th | Nottingham Forest (A) | 1–0 |
| QF | Liverpool (H) | 4–3 (a.e.t.) |
| SF | Coventry City (N) | 3–3 (a.e.t.) (4–2p) |
| Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) =Neutral venue | ||
As a Premier League team,Manchester United also entered the tournament in the third round. They began their campaign with a 2–0 away win overLeague One sideWigan Athletic with goals fromDiogo Dalot and apenalty fromBruno Fernandes.[10] before recording a 4–2 away win overLeague Two sideNewport County atRodney Parade. Fernandes scored the opener, beforeKobbie Mainoo scored his first goal for United. Newport then managed to bring the tie level with goals fromBryn Morris andWill Evans, but goals fromAntony andRasmus Højlund secured United's passage to the next round.[11] In the fifth round, United travelled to theCity Ground and defeatedNottingham Forest 1–0, withCasemiro heading a late winner.[12]
In the quarter-finals, United facedrivalsLiverpool at,Old Trafford, the first and only time they were drawn at their home ground.Scott McTominay gave United the lead within 10 minutes, beforeAlexis Mac Allister andMohamed Salah scored within minutes to Liverpool a 2–1 lead going into half-time. United looked like they were going out of the FA Cup at the hands of their rivals at home for the first time in over 100 years, butAntony scored a late-equaliser to send the match to extra time. Before the interval,Harvey Elliott give Liverpool the lead again, butMarcus Rashford made it 3–3. In the final minutes of extra time,Amad Diallo scored the winning goal. Amad was given a yellow second card and sent off for taking his shirt off in celebration, having picked up a yellow card earlier in the match.[13]
In the semi-final match, also held at Wembley, United facedCoventry City, who were the last side not from the top-flight still in the competition. Scott McTominay,Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes gave United a comfortable 3–0 lead, which they squandered, with goals fromEllis Simms,Callum O'Hare, and a stoppage-time penalty fromHaji Wright which sent the match into extra time. In the final minute of extra time,Victor Torp looked to have completed a miraculous comeback and sent Coventry to the final, but the goal was ruled out byVAR in a moment of controversy. In thepenalty shootout, United defeated Coventry 4–2, with Højlund scoring the winning penalty to set up aManchester derby final for a second successive season.[14] This was the sixth time that United had played in two successive FA Cup finals and the first time since2004 and2005.
The Football Association confirmed that the 2024 final would begin at 15:00, the same time as the previous FA Cup final did, as agreed by theMetropolitan Police.[15]
Prior to the match, considerable attention was focused on the future of Manchester United managerErik ten Hag, as his side finished 8th in the Premier League, the club's lowest position since its formation in 1992. Reports indicated that the club had decided to sack him regardless of the final result.[16][17][18]
Manchester City were considered as heavy favourites to win the match by the English media; having clinched a record-breaking fourth successive Premier League title the previous week,[19] a win would make them the first team to win aleague and cup double in successive seasons and would also make them the first team to retain the FA Cup sinceArsenal in 2015.[20] City had beaten United in both league fixtures between them, winning 3–0 atOld Trafford[21] and 3–1 at theEtihad Stadium.[22] Meanwhile, a win for United would secure European football, having failed to qualify due to their league position.
The final was shown live onBBC One,BBC iPlayer,ITV1,ITVX,UTV andSTV.[15] Live text commentary was available on theBBC Sport website and app.[23] The BBC coverage was led byGary Lineker alongsideWayne Rooney andMicah Richards, with the match commentary provided byGuy Mowbray andAlan Shearer.[24] The ITV coverage was led byMark Pougatch, who was joined byKaren Carney,Roy Keane andIan Wright; their commentary team consisted ofSam Matterface,Lee Dixon andAlly McCoist, withGabriel Clarke providing interviews. National radio commentary was provided byBBC Radio 5 Live andTalksport,[25] whileBBC Radio Manchester covered the match for local radio.[26]
The match officials were confirmed by the FA on 8 May 2024 withAndrew Madley (West Riding County football association) acting as the referee who previously refereedFA Trophy finals andFA Vase finals in his career. He was joined by assistant referees Harry Lennard (Sussex County football association) and Nick Hopton (Derbyshire County football association) with the fourth official being Simon Hooper (Wiltshire football association) and the reserve assistant referee was Tim Wood (Gloucestershire County football association). The video assistant referee wasMichael Oliver (Durham County football association), the support VAR wasPeter Bankes (Liverpool County football association) and the assistant VAR was Stuart Burt (Northamptonshire football association).[2]
The match kicked off at 15:00 in front of 84,814 fans.Marcus Rashford was through on goal immediately, butKyle Walker managed to beat the United forward to the ball. Manchester City then attacked, andLisandro Martínez made contact withErling Haaland in the penalty area. City appealed for a penalty, but the appeal was dismissed by the referee. Six minutes later,Bruno Fernandes foundAlejandro Garnacho on the right-hand side of the penalty area, before his shot was saved comfortably byStefan Ortega. In the 30th minute, Garnacho opened the scoring for United after a mistake at the back asJoško Gvardiol looked to head a deep pass from Diogo Dalot back to Ortega, who had come off his line too far, which enabled the United forward to pass it into an empty net. United had the ball in the back of the net again as Garnacho teed up Rashford, who guided the ball at the back post, but it did not count and the assistant referee had his flag up. In the 39th minute, Rashford played a ball over the top to Garnacho on the right-hand side, who picked out Fernandes in the centre, and the United captain played a first-time pass to Kobbie Mainoo who burst into the penalty area and scored to double United's lead.[27]
In the 55th minute, substituteJérémy Doku played a pass into the penalty area which fell to Haaland, who struck the ball off the crossbar. City continued their pressure, with Walker's effort from outside the penalty area being saved byAndré Onana. City came close again, as substitute Julián Álvarez scuffed his effort wide after a one-on-one against Onana. With three minutes to play, Doku received the ball on the left-hand side and shifted it onto his right before shooting towards the bottom corner from just outside the penalty area into the bottom left-hand corner of the net to pull one back. However, United held on after seven minutes of stoppage time and the match ended 2–1 in their favour.[27]
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] | Match rules
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After the match, Erik ten Hag was questioned about his future, to which he replied: "I don't think about this. I'm in a project and we are exactly where we want to be."[32] He also addressed criticism of him and his team this season: “We didn’t have the players. We (he and the critics) have seen the same things. There was not always good football, definitely not, but we had to make, all the time, compromises. Then you can’t play the football you want to play."[33] Pundit and former United midfielder Roy Keane suggested: "The manager has done his job today. Beating Man City in an FA Cup final is an extra bonus. Fingers crossed they support the manager."[32] Following weeks of speculation, reports emerged that Ten Hag would remain at United and that he was in talks with the club to sign a new deal. On 4 July, United announced that they had extended his contract until the 2025–26 season.[34] However, three months later, on 28 October, Ten Hag was sacked after a 2–1 defeat toWest Ham United saw the club fall to 14th after nine games.[35]
With his team's victory, Ten Hag became the first manager to beatPep Guardiola's Manchester City in a major domestic cup final.[36] Having finished eighth in the2023–24 Premier League, United also became the lowest ranked team to win the FA Cup sinceArsenal underMikel Arteta in2019–20, when they also finished eighth. United goalscorer andman of the match Kobbie Mainoo praised the togetherness at the end of a tough season, adding his goal was "an amazing moment". He and teammate Alejandro Garnacho became the first teenagers to score in an FA Cup final sinceCristiano Ronaldo for United in 2004. This was also City midfielderRodri's first club defeat since February 2023 against Tottenham Hotspur, ending his 74-game unbeaten streak across all competitions.[37] City manager Guardiola commented that his game plan was not good: "The players know the reason why. Tactically it wasn't good. You plan for a game and different positions, but it didn't work."[32]
As winners, United qualified for the2024–25 UEFA Europa League league phase and the2024 FA Community Shield, where they faced City as the league champions.[16] United earned £2 million in prize money, runners-up City earned £1 million.[15]
