Throwback Thursday: Looking back on the 2011 FA Cup Manchester Derby

 

Manchester City and Manchester United meet for the first time ever in a major cup final this Saturday, as the local rivals lock horns in a bid to clinch the FA Cup. 

 

Though they have of course met before to decide who wins silverware, namely the Community Shield, while also contesting a number of semi-finals, most recently in 2021 when a 2-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s side at Old Trafford was enough to see them through to the Carabao Cup final at the expense of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, Saturday offers the ultimate bragging rights with City looking to win a famous treble and United trying to preserve that record and win a domestic cup double of their own. 

 

For Throwback Thursday this week, we take a look back at the 2011 FA Cup semi-final meeting between these sides at Wembley, which was the real trigger for a shift in dominance in Manchester. 

 

It had been a season of real progress for City, with qualification to the Champions League looking a real possibility after their takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008. As they sought to return to Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 1969, they were eager to cement a positive campaign with a first major trophy since 1976 and what better opportunity to do so than to do one over their fierce rivals in a semi-final at Wembley. 

 

United defeated Premier League rivals Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford thanks to goals from Fabio and Wayne Rooney to secure their place in the semi-finals, while Roberto Mancini’s City team overcame a resilient Reading side with a 1-0 win, courtesy of a header from right-back Micah Richards, to set up a showstopper semi-final.  

 

Rooney, one of Alex Ferguson’s most important players that season, was unable to play a part as he was serving a suspension, while City were missing their own clinical finisher in Carlos Tevez, who was injured. 

 

 

It was however the Red Devils who started the brighter, dominating proceedings early on with Dimitar Berbatov missing two golden opportunities to take a deserved lead. 

 

As the first half drew to a close, the Cityzens started to creep into the game with more belief among their players as they began to create more chances. Shortly after the break and that opener was finally found as Yaya Toure took full advantage of a misplaced Michael Carrick pass to drive into the box and slot an effort past Edwin Van der Sar to give Mancini’s side the lead. 

 

20 minutes later it went from bad to worse for United when midfielder Paul Scholes received his marching orders with a straight red card after a bad challenge on Pablo Zabaleta, which firmly put City in the driving seat. 

 

As such the noisy neighbours were able to hang on and book their place in the FA Cup final for the first time in 30 years at the expense of their dominant rivals. 

 

It was a statement win against the best team in the country, but the cherry on top was clinching the trophy a month later in a 1-0 win over Stoke, further celebrated with a Champions League spot secured by finishing third. 

 

Beating their rivals was one thing, but doing so in a cup semi-final really sent a message that they were ready to compete. The win enabled City to really launch their campaign for dominance, which been started with the 2008 takeover, to become England's most feared side. 

 

12 years later and these sides meet again, this time in the FA Cup final, with Guardiola looking to spearhead City to a famous treble, only ever achieved in England by United in 1999, and keep Manchester blue. Erik ten Hag meanwhile is looking to cap off a positive first season, and will do everything in his power to stop the Premier League champions.

Throwback Thursday: Looking back on the 2011 FA Cup Manchester Derby