| Date: Saturday, 3 June Venue: Wembley Stadium Kick-off: 15:00 BST Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website & app; listen to full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; follow live text on BBC Sport website. |
Whoever lifts the FA Cup on Saturday will have even more to celebrate than usual.
As well as local bragging rights being at stake, Premier League champions Manchester City and League Cup holders Manchester United know the winner of a first major cup final between the two will be celebrating a rare double.
City also have the dream of a Treble, knowing victory against their neighbours would leave them just needing to beat Inter Milan in next Saturday’s Champions League final to match a feat achieved by only one other club in English football.
And that team to win a Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup in one season? Yep, Manchester United – and the desire to keep their historic achievement in 1999 to themselves is obvious.
It all makes for some cup final.
‘Giving it everything’ to stop City’s bid for greatness
Pep Guardiola’s men are now just two games away from becoming the 10th European side to sweep the board – and it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed among the red half of Manchester.
Even before United’s semi-final win against Brighton, former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel – a key member of that 1999 squad – joked: “That is why it is so important that we now beat Brighton, so we can stop them.”
Another member of that side, Gary Neville, told Sky Sports: “Man Utd want the opportunity to take away the Treble.”
The question about the importance of ‘stopping the Treble’ was posed to manager Erik ten Hag several times in the immediate aftermath of their semi-final win.
“We will give everything and, when I say everything, it’s everything… the fans can rely on that,” said the Dutchman. “We want to give that against City. We want to go and give the fans that.”
For the United fans, you get the feeling that stopping City is almost as important as their own cup double – having already won the Carabao Cup – with songs often sung around Old Trafford about their proud boast of being England’s only Treble winners,
United have been in this position before.
In 1977, they faced a Liverpool side who had won the league and had a European Cup final to follow four days after the FA Cup final. United won 2-1 at Wembley to end Liverpool’s Treble hopes. They did go on to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 in Rome.
Liverpool fans will be quick to remind of their two trebles – the European Cup, League Cup and First Division title in 1984 and FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup triumphs in 2001. In 2019 City became the only English men’s team to win a domestic treble of league, FA Cup and League Cup.
But, with just four trebles of various make-ups in the history of English men’s football, City know they are on the verge of true greatness.
‘Man Utd’s pre-eminence is under threat’
BBC Sport’s Simon Stone: It is almost certain if Manchester United win the FA Cup final, one of the first songs they will sing after the final whistle will be related to the Treble and the fact they have won it and Manchester City have not.
Nearly half a century on, United fans, who are old enough, still look back with pride on 21 May 1977 when they overcame the odds to beat Liverpool at Wembley to ensure the FA Cup was the final piece of silverware to elude them that season.
As City’s success and dominance continues and their trophy cabinet gets bigger, United’s pre-eminence is under threat.
They remain the only English club to win the Treble and they want to keep it that way.
How hard is a double?
With all the talk about trebles, it would be easy to forget the ‘double’ that is also up for grabs for both teams at Wembley on Saturday.
History, though, suggests it is an achievement not to be sniffed at.
In 2019, City became the first side to win the FA Cup and the Premier League in the same season since Chelsea did it in 2009-10 and they are only the eighth club to do so.
Their Carabao Cup triumph over Chelsea in February 2019 meant they became only the fourth club to hold the League Cup and the FA Cup simultaneously – with Liverpool adding their name to that particular roll of honour last season.
The other teams to achieve it are Chelsea (2006-07), Arsenal (1992-93) and Liverpool (2000-01). Manchester United could join that list on Saturday.
And there have been only 10 instances of a side winning the English top flight and League Cup in history.