Manchester United completed a precious revenge mission over bitter rivals Manchester City to win the FA Cup for the 13th time in their history thanks to a 2-1 victory over the Premier League champions at Wembley.
Amid claims that Erik ten Hag will be sacked as head coach regardless of Saturday's result, the Dutchman oversaw a truly masterful performance from the Red Devils, whose teenage phenoms Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo both struck in the first half.
City - who huffed and puffed without success for the majority of the match - managed to pull one back late on through Jeremy Doku, but the Belgian's effort would be scant consolation as Man United earned a slice of vengeance for their identical loss to Pep Guardiola's side in the 2022-23 final.
Ensuring that Man City would only end the season with Premier League stardom to their name - extinguishing their hopes of a 'double double' - Man United gave Ten Hag the perfect send-off if INEOS are indeed set to pull the trigger on the under-fire Dutchman, whose smile beamed the brightest at Wembley.
In addition to winning their second trophy in as many seasons under Ten Hag, Man United's success also punched their ticket to the 2024-25 Europa League - having failed to seal a place in Europe via their league position - while demoting Chelsea to the Europa Conference League and denying Newcastle United any form of continental football.
Teenage starlets terrorise Man City in first half
Rather than bring Rasmus Hojlund back in from the cold, Ten Hag persisted with his box midfield - spearheaded by Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes - while also including Marcus Rashford in the XI after his England Euros snub.
John Stones also earned an increasingly rare start at the back for City, but it was another centre-half who breathed a huge sigh of relief in the first minute of the FA Cup final, as Lisandro Martinez escaped conceding a penalty after clattering into Erling Haaland.
What a MIX-UP between Ortega and Gvardiol! 😲
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 25, 2024
Alejandro Garnacho takes the opportunity to give Man Utd the lead 🔴💥#BBCFootball #BBCFACup pic.twitter.com/XygS9aNAOl
The early spot-kick incident was foreboding of a fast-paced start from both teams, in which Man City enjoyed the lion's share of possession of course, but Man United restricted the central space effectively and comfortably dealt with a few deliveries into the box.
However, it was one long ball over the top which saw the holders come undone on the half-hour mark, as Stefan Ortega came out to intercept Diogo Dalot's lofted pass, which Josko Gvardiol already has eyes on.
In the miscommunication chaos, Gvardiol headed the ball over his onrushing goalkeeper, giving the grateful Garnacho - who as being played onside by Stones - an empty net to tap into.
With their fans in unexpected ecstasy, Man United had the ball in the back of the net again in minute 38, as Garnacho turned provider for Rashford to tap in, but the Argentine failed to beat the offside trap on this occasion.
Just one moment later, though, Garnacho would thwart the Man City high line from Rashford's exceptional switch of play, combining with Fernandes as the Man City defence backed off, and the Portuguese's deft flick to an untracked Mainoo ended with the teenager doubling Man United's lead via a calm first-time finish.
Kyle Walker's attempts to reach Mainoo were futile - the right-back let out a scream of anguish as the 19-year-old set himself to beat Ortega - and Ten Hag's troops entered the break two goals to the good.
Onana mistake unpunished as City lose grip on crown
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Guardiola sought to liven up a stagnant Citizens attack by introducing Doku for the second period, where Haaland almost cut the arrears in half with his first real sniff, but the Norwegian's first-time curler smacked the bar and bounced to safety.
Haaland's near miss sparked a period of relentless attacking from Man City, as a Walker piledriver in the 59th minute was brilliantly tipped behind by a diving Andre Onana, two moments before Julian Alvarez - on for Kevin De Bruyne - fired one over the top.
Guardiola's brazen call to demote De Bruyne for Alvarez was not paying off; the Argentine then poked a glorious chance wide in the 64th minute after being slipped through by Phil Foden, and frustrations boiled over not long after.
A few City penalty appeals had already been waved away before Mainoo seemingly wrestled Haaland to the ground in the 75th minute - which was deemed fair by Andy Madley and those in the VAR room - two moments before Onana was equal to another long-range Walker attempt bound for the far corner.
For all of Onana's previous successful feats in the United goal, though, he had to shoulder a portion of the blame for a belated City response in the 87th minute, as Doku cut inside and let fly from the edge of the box with a relatively tame attempt, which Onana could only push into the bottom corner of the net.
The 2022-23 winners were given seven minutes of injury time to try to force another 30, but Man United shut up shop effectively - as they had done for most of the afternoon - to rip the crown out of City's grasp in front of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's watchful eye.
Ben Knapton
