A Taste of Gündoğan Grace: One Step Closer to A Historic Treble for Manchester City
Manchester City has enough press attention as it is, so I’ma keep this one short.
Saturday afternoon, Manchester City beat their eternal rivals Manchester United in the 2023 FA Cup Final. The thrilling match kicked off with an epic, record setting goal from German midfielder İlkay Gündoğan in only the thirteenth second of the match. The play began all the way from second string goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who sent a long ball deep into Manchester United territory, the ball dinking off a few heads before falling to the feet of Gündoğan, who smashed the ball into the goal past a ball-watching David De Gea.
The next big chance came to Manchester United in the thirty-third minute, when a header from Man United fullback Aaron Wan-Bissaka came off of Man City forward Jack Grealish’s hand in the Cityzens’ box. After a controversial VAR review, the call went in favor of Manchester United. Bruno Fernandes stepped up to the ball and sent Ortega the wrong way, celebrating his equalizer with a sly shrug in front of the Sky Blue fans.
Manchester City found a second breakthrough in the fifty-first minute, when midfielder Kevin De Bruyne sent a free-kick towards the edge of the box for, who else, Gündoğan to latch on and mark his second tally of the match. While it was somewhat of a lucky hit, it was all the Cityzens needed to win their second title of the season- the team now has the opportunity to make it a treble next Saturday against Italian side Inter Milan.
For a player who was questionable to stay at Manchester City at the end of the season after transfer rumors concerning the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal and AC Milan, this game was certainly a statement show of class from Gündoğan: no matter if he stays at the club or moves on after seven years, his fans and soccer pundits are certain to respect his decision now, if they wouldn’t already. And at the age of thirty-two, he certainly still has quite a few years of top-tier football in him.
As for the Sky Blues, nothing less than a treble was expected of them once they came off their blistering start to the season. With only two losses in their first seventeen matches and an all-around complete striker in Erling Haaland, who scored goals for fun, another title charge was mandatory and an FA Cup win highly encouraged; however, Manchester City still need 90 minutes of quality football against Inter if they want to complete their record season and overtake the only other English club that has won a treble- who else- Manchester United.
While Manchester United failed to win the cup, it was still a relatively successful season for the Red Devils, particularly with their EFL Cup win and third place finish (an improvement over their sixth place finish last year). Under manager Erik Ten Hag, the future looks bright (unless I just jinxed it, of course).
In the end, both teams have good takeaways from the 2022/23 year, and with a couple of good transfers- along the lines of Rafael Leão for Man City and Neymar for Man United- these teams are sure to be scary opponents come next season. With that note, it seems this article did turn out to be a usual length, but hey- sometimes things turn out as planned no matter how much you try to fight it.
Just ask Haaland and Gündoğan.
