Prospect of All-Manchester FA Cup Final Looms Large
The FA Cup has never yet seen a Manchester Derby in the final, but this year could see that change.
After coming through their respective quarter finals at the weekend, City and United were kept apart in the semi-final draw, meaning there is still a major chance of the teams meeting on June 3rd to contest the oldest football title in the world.
If so, sports shops in Manchester may do a roaring trade in tops for the two clubs as the showpiece occasion looms.
City romped to a crushing 6-0 win over Championship leaders Burnley, with Erling Haaland’s sixth hat-trick of the season making it a grim return to the Etihad for City legend Vincent Kompany.
Matters were rather less straightforward for United, who were trailing an impressive Fulham 1-0 with 20 minutes left when Willian handled Jadon Sancho’s shot on the line to concede a penalty. Not only was William sent off, but so too was Fulham boss Marco Silva as he raged at the referee, followed by Aleksandr Mitrovic, who shoved the official to earn a red card and possibly a long ban.
Bruno Fernandes netted the resulting penalty and Marcel Sabitzer scored just two minutes later as Fulham imploded, before Fernandes scored again in stoppage time.
The draw for the last four will see City taking on Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United, while United face Brighton, the team they beat in the 1983 final.
While the two sides have never met in the final, they have faced off in the FA Cup semi-final before, most recently when City won 1-0 in 2011 on the way to winning the cup, their first trophy in 35 years.
There has been no such drought for United, for whom a six year wait to land this year’s Carabao Cup was the longest trophy hiatus since that 1983 win over Brighton. But Erik Tan Haag’s men are still eyeing up two more trophies after progressing to the last eight of the Europa League.
City are also chasing a treble, having reached the quarter finals of the Champions League while still hoping to chase down Arsenal in the Premier League title race.