On this day 6 Years Ago Manchester City Lost In FA Cup Final

There have been many games I have seen over the years where Manchester City disappointed with a poor performance, but few stick in the memory as much as the 2013 FA Cup Final.

This should have been a relatively routine victory for Manchester City against a poor Wigan Athletic side. City had won the FA Cup just a couple of years before to kick start a period of ascendancy. In 2011/12 they had followed that up with a last minute League title win thanks to the Aguero moment.

There was no doubt that City were the favourites for this match. No one had given Wigan a chance of winning except probably their charismatic Chairman, Dave Whelan, who was famous for telling everyone that he once broke his leg in the 1960 FA Cup Final. This was a story which City fans were quick to tire of.

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This 132nd FA Cup Final took place on 11 May 2013 and was City’s 10th appearance in the Final against Wigan’s 1st.

On the morning of the game the newspapers were full of stories that the City manager , Roberto Mancini, was to be sacked following a difficult season. The stories suggested Manuel Pellegrini had been lined up as his successor.

Mancini was angry in pre match interviews and even went so far as to criticise the Club for failing to rebuke the rumours. None of this pointed towards a team in the best frame of mind but it is impossible to tell how much of a distraction this all proved.

What we know as City fans though is that the team turned in a thoroughly abject performance which was so lacklustre it probably appears alongside that word now in dictionary definitions.

Pablo Zabaleta was sent off for a second yellow card in the 84th minute and the best that could be said is at least his defending was not at fault for the Wigan goal. Ben Watson scored a stoppage time header in the 91st minute and a humiliating defeat ensued.

This was a performance that I felt cheated by as a fan. We had overcome Chelsea 2:1 in the semi final and the thought of defeat had not really been considered in our planning. The journey back from Wembley was one of the longest journeys in my life.

Mancini was sacked a couple of days later but by then nothing really mattered. This defeat was hard to stomach because of the seeming lack of application.

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Eventually we learned to dismiss this performance as a “typical City” moment but it should prove a salutary lesson for our City squad as we move into the last week of the season. Nothing can be taken for granted.

The Manchester City team that day:

Hart

Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy

Silva, Toure, Barry, Nasri

Aguero, Tevez

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