The word ‘Manchester’ has already been engraved on the FA Cup trophy, but a shared city is not the only thing tomorrow’s finalists at Wembley have in common.
Manchester City and Manchester United are two clubs whose managers rule the roost. And they are stronger for it.
In Erik ten Hag, United finally seem to have not only an excellent tactician, but a superb communicator and decision-maker to take them out of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era and into one defined by a new period of success.
Pep Guardiola has been all those things and more for City, and tomorrow can win his 11th major honour since arriving at the Etihad in 2016.
The way Ten Hag and Guardiola have been given control is a lesson for Chelsea co-owner Todd Bohely in why he should let Mauricio Pochettino take over and do things his way.
Pochettino needs to be ruthless in his clear-out of the Chelsea squad this summer and both City and United have seen the benefits of backing their managers.
It was Guardiola who envisaged City would fare better without Joao Cancelo when other figures at the club felt it madness.
He has been vindicated by letting Cancelo join Bayern Munich on loan in January and converting John Stones into a midfielder in a 3-2-4-1 system that won them the title.
City are bidding to complete the second part of a treble tomorrow, while United can seal a domestic cup double.
Like City, United have benefited from trusting their manager on key decisions.
After City thrashed United 6-3 at the Etihad in October, Ten Hag held his nerve and set up in the same way for the return at Old Trafford in January.
United won 2-1, thanks to small tweaks by the Dutchman. He replaced Diogo Dalot with the more defensively-astute Aaron Wan-Bissaka, played Luke Shaw at centre-back and, crucially, used a midfield base of Fred and Casemiro rather than Scott McTominay and an out-of-position Christian Eriksen.
The signings of Wout Weghorst, Antony and Eriksen show Ten Hag heads up transfer strategy, and the club backed his decision to offload Cristiano Ronaldo before the World Cup.
His faith in making Marcus Rashford United’s go-to man this season has delivered 30 goals and 11 assists from the Englishman, and Casemiro — “the cement between the stones”, as Ten Hag calls him — has become a real leader.
He is also beginning to get a tune out of Jadon Sancho. He has proven himself right and English football wrong about Lisandro Martinez, and is using young stars Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri responsibly and effectively.
City’s biggest threat undoubtedly remains Erling Haaland, who has scored 52 goals in 51 games in his first season in England. Yet United can take heart from the way they went from conceding a hat-trick to the Norwegian in their 6-3 loss to keeping him quiet in their 2-1 win.
While there was concern City could be without Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji tomorrow when they stayed in Manchester for last weekend’s defeat by Brentford, all four should return for the final. United, though, will be without Marcel Sabitzer, Antony, Martinez and Anthony Martial.
Tomorrow is the first-ever all-Manchester FA Cup Final. This week, in a break from tradition, the trophy was partially engraved to mean the word ‘Manchester’ will be on the trophy by the time the winners have lifted it at Wembley.
Whether ‘City’ or ‘United’ is carved next to it could well come down to the influence of the managers.
