As Manchester City prepare for yet another FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest—what will be their 26th visit to Wembley since 2011—they do so as favourites once again with the FA Cup winner odds. But this time, there’s a sense of added importance, not just because they were beaten in last year’s final.
By their own high standards, this has been a relatively underwhelming season. With the Premier League title race tighter than ever and European hopes hanging in the balance, the FA Cup now stands as City’s most realistic shot at silverware. That might still be enough for most clubs—but under Pep Guardiola, the bar has been set much higher.
Since his arrival in 2016, the Catalonian has led City to silverware in every season but one—his debut year, a transitional campaign that remains the only trophyless spell of his glittering managerial career. In the years since, success has become the norm. So much so that even a single-cup season can feel like a disappointment.
Perhaps that’s the irony of City’s current situation: they’ve been so successful that anything less feels like failure. But to appreciate how far they’ve come, it’s worth looking back at the moment that started it all. In this article, we reflect on their first piece of silverware in their takeover – the 2011 FA Cup.
Before City were serial winners, they were hopeful contenders. When Roberto Mancini led his side to the 2011 FA Cup, it marked the end of a 35-year wait for a major trophy—and the beginning of something far bigger.
That campaign saw a squad taking shape under new ownership, with key signings like Yaya Touré, David Silva, Carlos Tevez and Vincent Kompany starting to gel. But the club still had much to prove. Years of false dawns and near misses had left fans desperate for success.
The breakthrough came at Wembley. After edging past Reading and Stoke in the final stages, City’s most symbolic win came in the semi-final against Manchester United to shock the football odds. Yaya Touré’s decisive goal secured a 1-0 win that didn’t just put City in the final—it announced their arrival. It was a changing of the guard in Manchester.
City went on to beat Stoke City in the final, again Toure the goal scorer in the dying embers. Lifting the FA Cup and finally banishing the “typical City” label. It was a cathartic moment for fans, but more importantly, it was the first trophy of the Sheikh Mansour era. The victory gave the team belief, set a precedent for winning, and laid the foundations for what would come next.
The FA Cup win proved to be the launchpad. The following season, City dramatically won the Premier League title in 2012—their first league crown in 44 years. Since then, the club has gone on to win every major domestic honour multiple times, dominate English football under Guardiola, and reach the summit of Europe.
The club’s evolution from nearly-men to European champions can be traced back to that afternoon at Wembley. It instilled a winning culture, gave the players and fans belief, and showed the rest of the league that City were no longer in it just to compete—they were in it to win.
City’s challenge now is to turn a frustrating season into a respectable one. Winning the FA Cup this year won’t define Guardiola’s legacy—but it could salvage a season that’s fallen below the standards he’s set.
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