2013 FA Cup Final
The 2013 FA Cup Final was the 132nd final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest football cup competition. The match, contested by Manchester City and Wigan Athletic, took place on 11 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium in London, and kicked off at 5:15 p.m. It was Wigan's first FA Cup final and Manchester City's 10th. Wigan pulled off a shock victory against favourites City, winning in circumstances reminiscent of the 1988 FA Cup Final when Wimbledon overcame Liverpool. Ben Watson's stoppage-time headed goal produced the "greatest FA Cup Final upset for a quarter of a century". In the United Kingdom, the match was televised by ITV and ESPN.
The competition winners were awarded a place in the group stage of the 2013–14 Europa League competition. Because Manchester City and their semi-final opponent Chelsea had already qualified for the following season's Champions League by virtue of the clubs' league positions, Wigan gained a Europa League place by winning their semi-final match.
Wigan owner Dave Whelan led out the Wigan team before kick off along with manager Roberto Martínez. The only goal of the game came a few minutes after City's Pablo Zabaleta had been sent off for a second yellow card, becoming the third player to be sent off in an FA Cup final. The cup was jointly lifted by playing captain Emmerson Boyce and club captain Gary Caldwell.
On 20 May, Wigan had an open-top bus tour of the town to celebrate the FA Cup victory. Manchester City sacked manager Roberto Mancini two days later, confirming rumours of the manager's fate before the match. Wigan failed to avoid relegation from the Premier League, becoming the first team to win the Cup and succumb to relegation in the same season.
Route to the final
Manchester City
Entering the FA Cup in the third round by virtue of Premier League status, Manchester City's first game was at home against Watford. In City's side, a notable absentee was Joe Hart who was replaced by substitute goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. Hart had been designated the club's domestic cup goalkeeper but had conceded four goals in his previous game. The City team took control after a mixed first 20 minutes. Carlos Tevez and Gareth Barry scored in the first half. In the second half, substitute academy player Marcos Lopes scored within seconds of taking the field in the 90th minute to become the club's youngest ever goalscorer at the age of 17 years and eight days.City progressed to a fourth round match at the Britannia Stadium to play Stoke City. In a match dominated by City it took until the 86th minute for City to score a goal from a powerful drive from Pablo Zabaleta. The fifth-round game took place on 17 February against Leeds United, a strong 4–0 win boosted club spirits after progress in the league had stagnated. Although Leeds had knocked out Tottenham Hotspur in the previous round, they conceded two goals including a penalty by Sergio Agüero in the first 15 minutes, and rarely looked capable of reducing the deficit. Further goals by Tevez and Agüero sealed the tie, and City's progression to the sixth round, where they were drawn at home to Championship club Barnsley.
Barnsley, having played second- and third-tier teams in their previous cup fixtures, had their backs to the wall against City, and the disparity showed as they took an hour to record their first shot on target, by which point they had conceded four. Tevez scored a hat-trick and set up two more for David Silva and Aleksandar Kolarov as City swept their opponents aside.
In the semi-finals, City took on defending champions Chelsea at Wembley for the fourth time in the FA Cup, and the first time since 1971, in the semi-final on 14 April. In a fast-paced match, City took control largely pinning Chelsea back for long periods and took 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 teams picked themselves up but failed to take control of the game, and were punished two minutes into the second half when a quick Gareth Barry free-kick put the ball on the head of Agüero, who sent a high looping header into the far corner beyond Čech's reach. City continued to press and had more opportunities to score but when Fernando Torres came onto the field from the substitute's bench, Chelsea fashioned a chance for Demba Ba, whose reflex kick gave Chelsea a goal. Resurgent, Chelsea dominated the last 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, Chelsea were unable to score, and defeat meant they had failed to reach the FA Cup final and would not be able to defend their trophy. Chelsea's goal meant that City were within 29 minutes of being the first team since 1966 to reach an FA Cup final without conceding a goal.
Wigan Athletic
Premier League Wigan's FA Cup campaign began in the third round against League One AFC Bournemouth. Roberto Martínez fielded a number of fringe players, and made nine changes to the team that played a Premier League match four days earlier. Despite having home advantage, the club was unable to progress to the next round 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 midway through the second half on the rebound from the penalty spot after two of his teammates had struck the bar. By the time of the replay, AFC Bournemouth were on an impressive 18-match unbeaten run, but conceded the tie and unbeaten run through poor defensive work as Mauro Boselli picked up a weak pass from the Bournemouth midfield to their own defence, thumping the ball home from some way out when no defender closed him down. Bournemouth struck the bar twice, but while both teams came close to scoring, Boselli's goal put Wigan through to the next round.managed Wigan Athletic during the 2012–13 season.
Wigan were drawn against non-league Macclesfield Town in the fourth round. Snow had to be cleared from the pitch on the morning of the game to avoid it being postponed. Gómez scored the only goal from a penalty awarded after Callum McManaman was brought down in the box in the sixth minute of play. The early goal did not dent the spirits of Macclesfield, the lowest ranked team remaining in the competition, who came back strongly coming close to equalising, but Wigan progressed with a 1–0 win. Victory gave Wigan their second appearance in the FA Cup Fifth round since the founding of the club in 1932.
Wigan were drawn away again – their first game against Bournemouth was their only home game of the campaign – to Huddersfield Town. The team quickly took control, McManaman scored his first FA Cup goal of the season on 31 minutes after running into the box and jinking around the nearside defender to blast the ball over the goalkeeper. Less than ten minutes later, Gómez' shot was deflected onto the foot of Arouna Koné, who was close enough to the goal that his outstretched leg almost crossed the goal line, though he was questionably. Goals from James McArthur and Koné's second sealed the tie, although Lee Novak's header, leaving goalkeeper Joel Robles on the goal line, gave Huddersfield a consolation.
A quarter-final draw against Everton at Goodison Park seemed to spell the end of Wigan's cup run when the club drew Premier League opposition for the first time. Everton were just pulling out of a bad run of form, having taken 12 points from 27. Though Everton had the larger share of possession, Wigan proved more clinical and efficient destroying Everton's hopes with three goals in four minutes. Although Everton continued to fight, Wigan had a third clean sheet and the first FA Cup semi-final appearance in the club's history.
For Wigan's fifth appearance at Wembley Stadium, they drew Championship side Millwall, while Manchester City and Chelsea had the "power match" of the penultimate round on the following day. Though the match was scrappy in the beginning, Wigan scored in the 25th minute when Koné hit a perfect cross onto the foot of Shaun Maloney, who found himself in space in front of the six-yard box and hit his shot under Millwall goalkeeper David Forde. While the possession statistics suggested a fairly even match, Millwall's failure to register a shot on target told as Wigan instead went close several times before Gómez play a well-timed through ball past the Millwall defence to McManaman, who picked it up and took it round Forde before slotting home Wigan's second in the 78th minute, sealing the win for Wigan.
Pre-match
Manchester City appeared in an FA Cup Final for the tenth time since the club was founded in 1880. The club had won the cup five times and were runners-up four times. Wigan Athletic made their first appearance in an FA Cup Final since the club was founded in 1932.Wigan Athletic wore the club's black away kit for the final and used the away team dressing room and were allocated the East End of the stadium. Manchester City fans occupied the West End and the team played in their home kit after winning the coin toss to decide who would wear which kit.
Ticket prices for the final started at £45 and were available at £65, £85 and £115, with a £10 discount for concessions. Manchester City received an initial allocation of 25,000 tickets, later increased to 31,779, while Wigan requested 21,000 tickets, later increased to a 25,000 allocation.
The traditional pre-match anthem, "Abide with Me", was performed by musical quartet Amore alongside the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The national anthem was also performed by Amore with the Band of the Grenadier Guards.