2013 FA Cup final

2013 FA Cup Final

Event	2012–13 FA Cup
Manchester City Wigan Athletic 0 1
Date	11 May 2013
Venue	Wembley Stadium
Referee	Andre Marriner (West Midlands)

The 2013 FA Cup Final was the 132nd final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest football cup competition. It is the second FA Cup Final to be sponsored by Budweiser. The final will take place on the 11 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium with a 5.15pm kick off. Premier League clubs Manchester City and Wigan Athletic will contest the 2013 final. The match will be Wigan's first FA Cup Final and Manchester City's tenth. In the United Kingdom, the final was televised on ITV and ESPN. In the United States, the final was televised on FOX.

The competition winners are awarded a berth in the group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. Because Manchester City qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League by virtue of their league position, Wigan Athletic gained a Europa League place, regardless if they won or lost the match.

Route to the final

See also: 2012–13 FA Cup

Manchester City

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Watford (h)	3–0
4th	Stoke City (a)	0–1
5th	Leeds United (h)	4–0
6th	Barnsley (h)	5–0
SF	Chelsea (n)	1–2

Entering the FA Cup in the third round by virtue of their Premier League status, Manchester City's first game was at home against Watford. City's side for the match, the main notable absence being Joe Hart's replacement by substitute keeper Costel Pantilimon, who had been designated the club's domestic cup keeper for the season but had conceded four in his previous game - the League Cup game at home to Aston Villa, where City had been ignominiously knocked out in their first game. This time, the strong team took control of the tie after a mixed first 20 minutes, both Carlos Tévez and Gareth Barry scoring in the first half. The scoring was completed in the second half by the substitute appearance of academy player Marcos Lopes, who scored in the 90th minute and within seconds of taking the field, in doing so becoming the club's youngest ever goalscorer at the age of 17 years and eight days.

City were rewarded for their victory by a fourth round trip to the Britannia Stadium to face off against Stoke City. In a match which City largely dominated, it still took until the 86th minute for them to break the deadlock, a goal coming from a powerful drive from crowd favourite Pablo Zabaleta's boot. The win was to prove City's first at the Britannia since their league game in 1999, when both teams were in the third tier. The fifth round game took place on 17 February against Leeds United, a strong 4–0 win helping boost club spirits after progress in the league had stagnated following two draws and a poor loss to Southampton. Although Leeds had previously proven themselves by knocking out Spurs in the previous round, they conceded two early goals including a penalty scored by Sergio Agüero in the first 15 minutes, and rarely looked capable of reducing the deficit. Further goals by Tévez and Agüero sealed the tie, and City's progression to the sixth round, where they were drawn at home to Barnsley.

Championship club Barnsley, having only played second- and third-tier teams in their previous cup fixtures, had their backs to the wall in their game against City, and the disparity showed as they took an hour to record their first shot on target, by which point they had already conceded four. Tévez, playing only days after being arrested for driving offences, hit a hat-trick of goals against the Yorkshire club, also setting up two more for David Silva and Aleksandar Kolarov as City swept their opponents aside with relative ease.

A packed Wembley Stadium saw City take on defending champions Chelsea for only the fourth time in the FA Cup, and for the first time since 1971, in the semi-final on 14 April. In a fast-paced match, City took control first, largely pinning Chelsea back for long periods but only taking the lead in the 35th minute, when Samir Nasri's poorly-timed cross was deflected back into his own path for him to sweep the ball over Petr Čech. Chelsea - the less energetic of the two teams having played European football in the previous two mid-weeks - picked themselves up afterwards but failed to take control of the game, and were punished barely two minutes after the start of the second half when a quick Gareth Barry free-kick put the ball on the head of Agüero, who instantly sent a high looping header into the far corner, far beyond Čech's reach. City continued to press and had further opportunities to score but at the appearance from the bench of Fernando Torres, Chelsea instantly fashioned a chance for Demba Ba, who's impressive reflex kick gave Chelsea their goal and turned the game on its head. Suddenly resurgent, Chelsea dominated the final 25 minutes, the ball barely leaving City's half but for a handful of wasted counter-attacks, while a series of defensive substitutions confirmed City's intent to play the game out rather than seeking a third. Despite the pressure they exerted, however, Chelsea were unable to score a second time, and their defeat meant that they had failed to reach the FA Cup final for only the third time in seven seasons, and would not be able to defend their trophy. Chelsea's goal also meant that City would come within 29 minutes of being the first team since 1966 to reach an FA Cup final without conceding a single goal - all the more impressive considering that Pantilimon had replaced Hart for every single game that City had played in the tournament that season.

Wigan Athletic

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Bournemouth (h)	1–1
	Bournemouth (a)	0–1
4th	Macclesfield Town (a)	0–1
5th	Huddersfield Town (a)	1–4
6th	Everton (a)	0–3
SF	Millwall (n)	0–2

As a Premier League side, Wigan also began their FA Cup campaign in the Third round, where they were drawn against League One Bournemouth in their first fixture. Roberto Martinez took the opportunity to field a number of fringe players, and made nine changes to the team that played in the Premier League four days earlier. Despite having the home advantage, the Greater Manchester were unable to seal their progression in one game, drawing 1–1. Towards the end of the first half, Eunan O'Kane struck a sweet shot from outside the penalty area into the top right corner, while Jordi Gómez levelled the tie mid-way through the second half on the rebound from the penalty spot after two of his team-mates in succession had struck the bar. By the time of the replay, Bournemouth were on an impressive 18-match unbeaten run, but they conceded the tie and their loss-less streak through poor defensive work as Mauro Boselli picked up a very weak pass from the Bournemouth midfield back to their own defence, thumping the ball home from some way out when no defender closed him down. This time it was the Cherries who struck the bar twice, but while both teams came close to scoring, Boselli's goal remained the only goal of the game, putting Wigan through to the next round.

The fourth round brought a trip to non-league Macclesfield Town. The match came close to postponement; snow had to be cleared from the pitch on the morning of the game. Once again Gómez scored the only goal from a penalty awarded after rising star Callum McManaman was brought acrobatically down in the box in only the sixth minute of play. The early goal did not dent the spirits of Macclesfield, who were the lowest ranked team remaining by that stage but who came back strongly across the course of the game, coming close to equalising but ultimately failing to score, allowing Wigan to progress with a 1–0 win. Victory gave Wigan only their second appearance in the FA Cup Fifth round since the founding of the club in 1932.

Although Wigan had been drawn away yet again - indeed, their first game against Bournemouth would be their only home game of the campaign - they rose to the occasion in their game against Huddersfield and quickly took control, McManaman getting his first FA Cup goal of the season on 31 minutes to open the scoring after running into the box and jinking around the nearside defender to blast the ball over the top of the goalie. Less than ten minutes later, Wigan had their safety margin after a Gómez shot was deflected onto the foot of Arouna Kone, who was close enough to the goal that his outstretched leg almost crossed the goalline itself, though he was questionably offside at the time. Powerful goals from James McArthur and Kone again sealed the tie, although Lee Novak's header, leaving keeper Joel Robles dumbfounded on the goalline, gave Huddersfield a consolation.

A quarter-final draw against Everton at Goodison Park seemed to spell the end for Wigan's cup run just as it was getting exciting, with Wigan drawing Premier League opposition for the first time while their league campaign was looking increasingly like it would devolve into their usual last-gasp fight against relegation. Everton, however, were just pulling out of their own bad run of form, having taken only 12 points in the last 27. Though the Merseyside club had the larger share of possession, Wigan proved more clinical and efficient however, destroying Everton hopes with three goals in four minutes. Although the Toffees continued to fight they had nothing to show for their efforts, allowing Wigan their third clean sheet of the tournament and giving Wigan a first FA Cup semi-final appearance in their history.

For Wigan's second appearance at the new Wembley Stadium they were given the easy tie of the round, drawing Championship strugglers Millwall while Premier League top five contenders Manchester City and Chelsea (who could, by the time of the draw, still have lost their semi-final place to Manchester United in their quarter-final replay) were left to slug it out in the "power match" of the penultimate round, which would be played on the following day. Though the play was scrappy in the beginning, Wigan found the net in the 25th minute when Kone hit a perfect cross onto the foot of Shaun Maloney, who had found himself in acres of space just in front of the six yard box and was able to hit his shot under Millwall keeper David Forde virtually unopposed. While the possession statistics suggested a fairly even match, Millwall's failure to register a single shot on target told as Wigan instead went close several more times before Gómez was able to play a well-timed through ball straight past the Millwall defence to McManaman, who picked up the ball and took it round Forde before slotting home Wigan's second in the 78th minute, sealing the win for Wigan. While Wigan had qualified for their first ever FA Cup final, the game regrettably was notable more for the response from a section of the Millwall crowd, with punches thrown between fans turning into scuffles with the police, somewhat marring the occasion for all involved.

Pre-match

Manchester City are appearing in an FA Cup Final for a tenth time since being founded in 1880. They have won the cup five times previously (in 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011) and runners-up four times (1926, 1933, 1955 and 1981). Wigan Athletic are making their first appearance in an FA Cup Final since being founded in 1932.

Wigan Athletic will wear their black away kit for the final, they will also use the away dressing room and have been allocated the East End of Wembley. Manchester City fans will occupy the West End of the stadium and the team will play in their traditional home kit after winning the coin toss to decide who would wear which kit, they chose to wear their home kit.

Ticket prices for the final started at £45 and were also available at £65, £85 and £115, with a £10 discount off the ticket price for concessions. Manchester City received an initial allocation of 25,000 tickets, later increased to 31,779, while Wigan requested an initial quantity of 21,000 tickets. The FA Cup winners receive £1,800,000 from the FA Cup Prize Fund while the runners-up will earn £900,000.

Details

11 May 2013

17:15 BST

Manchester City	0–1	Wigan Athletic
	BBC Report	Watson 90+1'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 86,254

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)

Manchester City

Wigan Athletic

GK 1 Joe Hart RB 5 Pablo Zabaleta  60' 84'  CB 4 Vincent Kompany (c) CB 33 Matija Nastasić  75' LB 22 Gaël Clichy CM 42 Yaya Touré CM 18 Gareth Barry  87'  90+2' RW 8 Samir Nasri  54' LW 21 David Silva SS 32 Carlos Tévez  69' CF 16 Sergio Agüero Substitutes: GK 30 Costel Pantilimon DF 6 Joleon Lescott DF 13 Aleksandar Kolarov MF 7 James Milner  54' MF 14 Javi García MF 17 Jack Rodwell  69' FW 10 Edin Džeko  90+2' Manager: Roberto Mancini

GK 1 Joel Robles  90+3' RWB 16 James McArthur CB 17 Emmerson Boyce (c) CB 3 Antolín Alcaraz CB 33 Paul Scharner LWB 18 Roger Espinoza CM 4 James McCarthy CM 14 Jordi Gómez  81' CAM 10 Shaun Maloney CF 15 Callum McManaman CF 2 Arouna Koné Substitutes: GK 26 Ali Al-Habsi DF 5 Gary Caldwell DF 25 Román Golobart MF 8 Ben Watson  81' MF 20 Fraser Fyvie FW 9 Franco Di Santo FW 11 Ángelo Henríquez Manager: Roberto Martínez

Man of the match Callum McManaman (Wigan Athletc) Match officials Assistant referees: Fourth official: Reserve official:

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.