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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
George Hodgson

Nathan Ake fires FA Cup final warning to Manchester United after Man City fury

Nathan Ake is confident Manchester City will be ready to get revenge on Manchester United in next weekend's FA Cup final.

The treble is on for Pep Guardiola's men, with the Premier League title secured and finals to come in the Champions League and FA Cup. The latter is the first task for City, at Wembley, before taking on Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10th.

United had the last laugh back in January, with two late goals in four minutes seeing Erik ten Hag's team come from behind to win - after Jack Grealish had broken the deadlock on the hour mark. City were left to rue a contentious Bruno Fernandes equaliser, which set United on their way to eventual victory.

ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola wants Man City to embrace 'once-in-a-lifetime' period

Ake believes City are ultimately better off for that disappointing day, with the Blues having gone on a remarkable run of form to storm to the league title. Guardiola recently heaped praise on City's defensive game, with Ake one player singled out for the strong second half of the campaign.

"I think it was a learning curve (at United)," said the City defender. "Because after the goal was given, we lost ourselves a little bit. We wanted to score straight away. We didn’t focus any more and that is why we conceded the second one and lost the game.

"I think we have learned from that moment, not to panic when things like this happen. This kind of thing is going to happen in the future as well, so it is about how we react because on this occasion we didn’t react well."

On the defensive improvement since then, Ake added: "The team has done really well and Manu [Akanji] is playing very well at left-back. So for me, the focus is on myself, to make sure I am 100 percent fit and available to the manager.

"It is then up to him to make the decision. Whatever he does is good for the team and the only thing we think about as players now is just to win the titles."

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