Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola may secure a third FA Cup title while in charge of the club as his side squares up against Chelsea FC in the final of the competition at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.ng reports.
Guardiola won his first FA Cup for City in 2019, beating Watford FC 6-0, and claimed another in 2023 against Manchester United FC.
This will be his fourth FA Cup final, having reached the showpiece in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The City boss, during a pre-match conference on Friday, said being in the final is not cheap, while sending a clear message about beating opponents Chelsea.
He said, “The message is how we have to move, run, play against Chelsea to beat them.
“This is the message. The message is [this is the] FA Cup final, at Wembley, with two prestigious clubs, with our fans that make an effort, an incredible effort to come down to London, and it is not cheap.
“And go to support us and try to perform as best as possible to win. And always there is a game plan you have to do.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea interim head coach Calum McFarlane says his players believe they can beat anyone, but that can only happen by being the best version of themselves.
“The players have got the belief they can beat anyone – we just know that we have to be the best version of ourselves,” said McFarlane.
He admitted that facing City on Saturday will be a challenge, considering the quality of the team they are up against, but emphasised that his side has the ability to beat anyone.
“Manchester City are an exceptional side with an exceptional coach and exceptional players, so it’s going to be a challenge. But we also have really good players, and these players have shown that if they’re at their best, they can beat anyone.”
On how his side will approach the game on Saturday, McFarlane added:
“We’ll have the same process in the way we work day to day, whether it’s meetings with players, individual meetings, it will all be the same,’ stated McFarlane.
“We will try to keep it as normal as possible and try and get the same sort of performance we got against Leeds and Liverpool. But, of course, it’s a massive game, and you can’t hide away from that. We all want to win.”
Statistically, Chelsea have yet to record a victory over City in their last eight games in all competitions since November 12, 2023.
In head-to-head meetings during that period, City have recorded five wins and three draws.
