TeamViewer Trending: Kobbie at the Cup final
“In a final, anything can happen,” Kobbie Mainoo said during the build-up to the 2024 FA Cup final against Manchester City.
“In a final, anything can happen.”
STAND-OUT MOMENT
In-keeping with his box-to-box display, Kobbie’s key contribution was, of course, the winning move which he calmly initiated and emphatically finished.
After Diogo Dalot headed away an errant Kevin De Bruyne shot, Mainoo kept his composure and, rather than aimlessly clear his lines, nodded the ball towards Bruno Fernandes and then, as Mateo Kovacic advanced on the Portuguese, moved into the space vacated by the Croatian midfielder. Upon receiving the ball back from his skipper, Kobbie engaged both Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva before poking a pass wide to Marcus Rashford.
While City’s attention switched to Rashford’s arrowed crossfield ball to Alejandro Garnacho, Mainoo stole away and found space between England colleagues Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones. Intelligent off-ball runs from Fernandes and Rashford retained the attentions of Stones and Walker respectively, with the former also mindful of Garnacho’s right-wing progress with the ball and Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s impending overlap, a looming issue for Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake on the left side of City’s defence.
Amid the developing situation, Kobbie had found priceless space between Stones and Walker, meaning that all he had to do was alert Fernandes to his availability and hope that the ball was worked to the skipper. It was and, with an adroit first-time pass from the Portuguese, Mainoo was teed up for an ice-cold first-time finish across goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
Even City legend Sergio Aguero, watching on as a pundit for ESPN’s live stream, was moved to lasting applause, labelling the goal ‘incredible.'
“What a talent. What a talent.”
“To perform the way he did, against this Manchester City team, is great.”
KOBBIE SAID:
"We had to be humble and respect them [City],” Kobbie was keen to stress afterwards. “We just had to keep our heads and keep together. It has been a tough season and luckily we have had the fans behind us the whole way. In a game like this we have to come together. It has been our light at the end of the tunnel, so we had to come together. The FA Cup is such a historic trophy and to have done it in this game, in a derby, there is nothing sweeter.”
Looking back on his decisive strike, the midfielder beamed: “To be honest, it was such an amazing moment I can't even remember it! I remember making a run and sliding it into the corner – that's about it!”
In typically level-headed fashion, Mainoo was keen to shift the focus back on to the collective, saluting the genius no-look assist from Fernandes. “The quality he has, he sees things no one else can,” scoffed the youngster. “I tried to shout him and didn't know if he could hear me, but he just found me in the right spot and I was able to finish it.”
“I always say he's the best player in the squad and he's the youngest!”
TEN HAG SAID:
In his wide-ranging post-match interviews, Erik ten Hag touched only lightly on his no.37’s excellence, commenting: “He was really so enjoyable to watch. At his age, he’s an example.”
“Kobbie is just incredible," echoed team-mate and fellow goalscorer Garnacho. “I always say he's the best player in the squad and he's the youngest!”
Blues captain Walker, meanwhile, could only lament: “What a talent. What a talent.”
“The FA Cup is such a historic trophy and to have done it in this game, in a derby, there is nothing sweeter.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Kobbie became the 10th Academy graduate to score in an FA Cup final for United (just after fellow homegrown talent Alejandro Garnacho became the ninth). The full list is:
Stan Pearson and John Anderson (1948)
Sammy McIlroy (1979)
Norman Whiteside (1983 and 1985)
Lee Martin (1990)
Mark Hughes (1990 and 1994)
Paul Scholes (1999)
Jesse Lingard (2016)
Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo (2024)