Guardiola's cup runneth over but Man City will be judged on European stage

Two down, one to go

- RICHARD JOLLY

Perhaps it is a sign of the FA Cup’s diminishing status that it seems the least of the trio, perhaps a sign of its historic importance that Pep Guardiola sounded genuinely delighted to win it. “The emotions are so, so special,” he said. For the record, and it can be obscured by much else on a sizeable CV, he is now the only manager to win each of the main English, Spanish and German knockout competitions two times.

There was a time when it represented arguably the biggest prize in the domestic game, another when the double was the ultimate achievement. Only four clubs did it in 97 years. In the last 38, nine have: over three decades, more than a quarter of champions have also ended the season with the FA Cup. It is a sign of how a concentration of resources at the top have altered the footballing landscape. Manchester City are an extreme case, even if the man who proved their Wembley match-winner, Ilkay Gundogan, was a £16m bargain.

But if the 2023 FA Cup will have a greater significance than most, it is probably for two reasons. This was, in more than 150 years, the first final to double up as a Manchester derby. It may not be the last if City maintain their dominance and Erik ten Hag’s revival of Manchester United proves more than a fleeting affair. Both of these neighbours had arguably underachieved in the competition in the previous decade, even though each had won it once; they had claimed eight League Cups between them over the same period.