Pep Guardiola and the FA Cup: A Deep-Rooted Connection
Pep Guardiola has built a remarkable legacy at Manchester City, not only in terms of domestic success but also in shaping a culture that values every competition. His journey with the club has been marked by numerous memorable moments, including some key dinners that have influenced his approach to football. One such dinner during his early years at City helped shape an attitude that would eventually lead to unprecedented domestic success.
Guardiola is known for being both gregarious and inquisitive, especially when it comes to understanding the expectations of fans. On one occasion, he met with supporters and asked them about the most important trophy. The answers were clear and consistent—first was the Premier League title, followed by the FA Cup, then the League Cup, and finally the Champions League if there was any capacity left.
These responses gave Guardiola insight into how City fans viewed European football and UEFA, something he had to learn to navigate over the course of his first contract. However, these answers likely made him think deeply about the importance of each competition. Since then, he has worked to make the Carabao Cup fashionable again, winning a fifth title against Arsenal before the international break. He has also managed to lose only one FA Cup match away from Wembley.
That loss came in 2018 against Wigan Athletic, a game that led to a dramatic dressing-down by Guardiola after a sending-off. It was the only season where he failed to reach at least the semi-final, a testament to City’s dominance in the competition. The record is truly phenomenal, even if Guardiola feels the club should have won more than two trophies across his nine campaigns. An eighth consecutive semi-final is within reach if they beat Liverpool on Saturday, extending their own record.
“I don’t need to finish and go to the Maldives underneath the coconuts to realise how incredible it is,” said Guardiola, who had recently returned from a beach holiday. “I’m sorry, it’s incredible—in real time. Some of them I know why we didn’t win, I know perfectly why sometimes we didn’t have more chance to win. I know that.”
He likely refers to refereeing decisions and a harshly disallowed goal in their first trip to the semi-finals, which ended in defeat by Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in 2017. The frustration in his face during the 2022 final, when Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson escaped a red card for handball, highlights his deep desire to win a trophy that many had long discarded.
“The FA Cup I’ve always thought, ‘wow’,” Guardiola said. “The League Cup, Brian Kidd said to me, ‘this competition nobody cares, Sir Alex (never cared)’. When you win four in a row, five in 10 years, it is because you care. We tried since I arrived to make a culture at this club—in every game we played, to be there to win.”
Victory against Liverpool would mean City’s 23rd trip to the national stadium in a cup competition under Guardiola and breaking a 145-year-old record. Clapham Rovers once won 17 in a row at home from 1873, although they only became champions once. They dissolved in 1914, hosting home games on the commons of Claphan, Wandsworth, and Tooting Bec in south London.
City are now level with them, with several home wins against Premier League opponents. The harder draws come away from the Etihad Stadium, often facing top-flight teams in almost half of their ties. The way Guardiola’s side has dispatched lower league visitors—like Rotherham (7-0), Exeter (10-0), and Salford (8-0)—speaks to the character of a manager who treats every competition with utmost seriousness.
Erling Haaland, Rodri, Antoine Semenyo, and Rayan Cherki all started against Exeter in January. Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, and Ilkay Gundogan were on the sheet when Rotherham arrived in 2019. Guardiola does not mess about and talks up the days when they travel to more traditional stadiums, like Newport County’s Rodney Parade or Whaddon Road in Cheltenham, where the fans are on top of them and make things a little unpleasant.
There was also a state of perplexity around the coaching staff when it was claimed that the 6-0 shellacking of Watford in the 2019 final, Guardiola’s first FA Cup, devalued the competition.
“Always we have been there,” he said. “You take the coach, go away against League One or Two. I know how important it is for them. The pitch! The stadiums in January, February… long balls, second balls. The Champions League is fascinating but when you play this, you feel that, ‘I am in England’.”
“Champions League is so nice, don’t misunderstand me, but when you come here in England and play these competitions you feel that I am in this country, where that competition belongs. Eight semi-finals in the FA Cup? Come on, guys. Not even in Spain and Germany they do that. Or Italy. They don’t do it.”
