Pep Guardiola’s men secured a seventh title with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.
The first time that the two sides had faced each other in the famous competition’s 142 finals, a brace from City skipper Ilkay Gundogan earned a deserved win in the capital.
It proved to be an unforgettable occasion for the thousands of blues who made the long journey south, with Dan and Dale, members of City’s LGBTQ+ Official Supporters’ Club, documenting the day from their perspective.
Hear more about their day below, while you can also find out more about your local Official Supporters’ Club branch by visiting our site here.
06:30 – Canal Street, Manchester
We always meet on Canal Street in Manchester for an away match, but it was nice and early for our trip down to London. CSB always sort out a luxury coach, so it had a kitchen at the back and fridges to make the journey as comfortable as possible. It’s usually very upbeat when we’re on the way to a game, but the atmosphere was a little nervy on the coach down.
We knew it was the first FA Cup final Manchester Derby, so I think that added to the suspense. It was quite a long build-up to it and a lot of sleepless nights, especially the night before! Dan’s boss, who’s a red, had been jokingly giving him a bit of stick in particular and Dan, of course, was giving it back.
On the coach we were saying we knew it was going to be tough. We knew they’d be up for it and to stop us potentially winning three trophies. It was huge.
If we weren’t in the Champions League final the nerves might’ve been a bit better but it definitely added to the atmosphere. I don’t think the nerves left until the game, but we were all chatting about what was to come, giving our thoughts on the match etc. and predicting the score.
Our youngest member ended up getting it spot on, and he did that with the Real Madrid match as well – that’s two coach trips in a row!
11:00 – Wembley Stadium, London
There were plenty of songs on the journey down to London and we made very good time as well. We had a good speaker system on there, so it was a great.
We arrived at Wembley around 11:00 (UK) and went straight to the City fan park to soak up the atmosphere with the other early arrivals.
We saw the City bus go past with the players which, understandably, got a great reception. It was sunny, everyone was excited, and the drinks were flowing, so it was a really nice way to prepare for the game.
15:00 – Kick-off
What a way to start the match! We’d got to our seats before kick-off, but Ilkay’s goal was one of those ‘blink and you miss it’ moments. Looking around at friends and other City fans, everyone was in shock more than anything. People were still making their way to their seats!
It was a bit of a surreal moment, but what an amazing goal. It was like slow motion. It felt like the whole stadium stopped and then suddenly it sped up again. It sat up so well and a few of us shouted ‘shoot’.
Our end absolutely erupted. We as CSB were all sat together, so it was quite emotional as well - we’ve made really good friends being part of this group, so it was great to be around them, hug people who you’ve travelled all around England and Europe with this season.
Even people who didn’t know each other though, as we always are as City fans, just grabbed each other anyway!
15:50 – Half-time
United’s equaliser upped the tension in our end of Wembley for a while, but then it felt like we were back to our usual selves and were dominant.
From where we were sitting, it didn’t look like a penalty in real time but, given the current handball rule, we personally didn’t really have any complaints on replay.
At half-time though, we weren’t overly concerned that they’d go on and win, more so that it could become one of those games where we’d have to really dig in to get the win.
16:10 – Second half
Another brilliant start by City and another spectacular goal from our captain! This second goal doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves.
David De Gea could maybe have got there but to find that corner and hit it how Ilkay did takes incredible technique. We were both saying that he’s one of the best players we’ve ever seen play for City, no question.
Dan was pretty confident after that second goal, but the only time we felt a little on edge was when Alejandro Garnacho came on, he was the only one who we felt was a threat. Obviously, there’s always a nervy moment in the last minute, particularly that scramble at the end, but we always felt we were in control.
16:58 – Full-time
When the final whistle went, we’ve never known noise like it. It was deafening, and even better when you see the other half of Wembley emptying! But then all of a sudden, people were looking at each other and thinking: ’we could do this’.
The double is already a massive achievement, but it really started kicking in that we’re now just one game from winning three trophies this season. It was huge to beat United in the FA Cup final though. If it wasn’t for this weekend, this would be one of the biggest games we’d ever played.
Especially against our rivals, it just makes it even more sweet. Dan also texted his boss after the match saying: ‘I take it I should start looking for a new job on Monday?’, with his boss sending back a tongue-in-cheek reply, we had a good laugh. Dale’s dad is also a red, he’s the only one in the family, all the others are blues. He definitely picked the right side as well!
17:30 – Depart Wembley Stadium
We all walked together back to the coach from Wembley and, as you can imagine, there were a lot of songs and chanting.
There was good banter as well with a few United fans who walked past and all in jest, which is what you want.
When we were leaving the ground, the new ’30,000 bucket hats’ song started spreading like wildfire. We couldn’t stop singing it when we got back on the coach either!
01:30 – Canal Street, Manchester
We got back at around 1:30 (UK) in the morning. It was a really long day but absolutely worth it. A massive thank you has to go out to CSB at this point for the way that this trip and others have each been organised.
Safety is a massive thing, and travelling, especially if it’s a derby or there’s potentially some crowd trouble, can be a really intimidating experience. But the way they look after everyone and make sure we’re all together is fantastic.
We’ve been lucky enough to go to every single European away day this season, with one more on the horizon! It’s a great group to be a part of.
