Izuchukwu OkosiManchester City moved a step closer to winning a historic treble in the 2022/2023 season as they defeated city rivals, Manchester United 2-1 at the Wembley stadium on Saturday evening to win the FA Cup.
Germany international of Turkish descent Ilkay Gundogan was the hero of the day as he scored both City at both halves to secure the club’s 7th FA Cup title.
Pep Guardiola’s men domestic double at Wembley and a possible UEFA Champions League triumph over Inter Milan innext week Saturday’s final in Istanbul would see the Cityzens become just the second team after Man United to win the treble in a single campaign which they achieved in 1999.
Gundogan scored the fastest goal in FA Cup final history after just 12 seconds of the game when he latched onto a trickery ball on the edge of the box with a low drive to the bottom right corner.
United levelled on 33 minutes through Bruno Fernandes’ penalty after Jack Grealish was harshly penalised for a handball following a VAR review.
But the City captain, in what could be his final game for the club on English soil with his contract expiring at the end of the season, volleyed home the winner six minutes into the second-half
City won the Premier League title by usurping Arsenal who were atop the log for 248 days in a dramatic finish on the season.
“Everyone knows the FA Cup is the most beautiful domestic club competition in the world, so to win this trophy again and complete the double is amazing for us,” said matchwinner, Gundogan.
“We have a chance to do something special and win the treble and we do not want to let this opportunity pass us by.”
The first ever major final between the Manchester giants had the most explosive of starts.
The total number of attendees were recorded as 83,000 crowd in the game.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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