Manchester United aim to rewrite history with FA Cup glory at noisy neighbours’ expense
TWELVE years ago, Manchester City triggered a seismic shift in English football by beating treble-chasing Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. On Saturday (Jun 3), City’s own treble bid will come under serious threat from a resurgent United in the final of that same competition.
With the English Premier League (EPL) title wrapped up for a third successive season, the Citizens are just two victories away from becoming only the second English club – after United in 1999 – to win the EPL, the Champions League and the FA Cup in the same campaign.
City’s current success and United’s status as hopeful challengers would have been unimaginable when they last met in the FA Cup back in 2011.
Just a few weeks after United lost that semi-final showdown at Wembley, the Red Devils – still managed by Alex Ferguson at the time – would go on to clinch the EPL crown for the fourth time in five years, while also reaching the Champions League final.
In stark contrast to United’s golden era under Ferguson, City were still scarred by decades of dysfunction and they headed to Wembley in the midst of a trophy drought that had become a major source of embarrassment.
Statement of intent
Such was United’s superiority over their neighbours that fans cheekily displayed a banner in the Stretford End at Old Trafford which showed the number of years since City last won a trophy.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 2 pm
Lifestyle
Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.
To the intense frustration of the supporters on the blue side of Manchester, the number on the banner was 35 by 2011.
Yet, by the time they left Wembley on that grey April afternoon in 2011, City had delivered a statement of intent that would soon render that mocking banner redundant.
The first Manchester derby to be played at Wembley was an appropriate setting for a defining moment in English football.
Since City were taken over by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi-based group in 2008, their immense spending on new players had become the talk of the EPL.
Ferguson had dismissively waved away any suggestion of City posing a threat to United when he famously dubbed their rivals “noisy neighbours” in 2009.
But City were gradually improving under then-manager Roberto Mancini and the FA Cup semi-final victory served as their coming of age.
After United missed several chances, Yaya Toure – one of City’s expensive recruits – scored the only goal of a fiercely-contested clash seven minutes after the interval. The defeatism that had plagued City for so long was removed in one fell swoop.
Turning point
Joleon Lescott was part of the City defence that kept United firmly at bay and the English centre-back recalls the match as a game-changer for both clubs.
“That FA Cup semi-final was a real shift in belief as a club, for us as players and the fans, but also for United,” Lescott, now 40, said. “They realised we were a real threat. That was a real turning point. It really propelled us.”
City would go on win the FA Cup by beating Stoke City in the final, banishing the trophy taunts from United once and for all, and setting the stage for the start of a blue dynasty in Manchester.
Mancini’s men thrashed United 6-1 at Old Trafford the following season and won the league championship at their bitter rivals’ expense thanks to Sergio Aguero’s unforgettable injury-time goal against Queens Park Rangers on the final day.
“We weren’t just the noisy neighbours anymore. We were very loud!” Nigel De Jong, a member of that title-winning team, said.
Since beating United in the 2011 FA semi-final, City have gone on to win 15 major trophies, including seven EPL titles. Under current manager Pep Guardiola’s watch, City have won the last three league titles and five of the last six.
United, meanwhile, have won only six major trophies in the same period with their last EPL crown coming in Ferguson’s final season in 2013.
However, a revival could be brewing after current United manager Erik ten Hag finally ended the club’s six-year trophy drought this season.
Winning the League Cup in February and finishing third in the EPL are encouraging signs, but beating the champions in the first all-Manchester FA Cup final would be an even more significant milestone.
“It’s obvious we play against probably, at this moment, the best team, but still there is a chance. We have to give everything,” ten Hag said.
And with their club seemingly on the verge of being bought by a wealthy new owner, United fans can dare to dream of emulating the City surge that started with that unexpected victory at Wembley over a decade ago. AFP
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.