Manchester City defeated rival Manchester United in the customary season opener at Wembley, earning them the early right to gloat about their victory. Pep Guardiola’s team won thanks to missed penalty shots from Johnny Evans and Jadon Sancho after Bernardo Silva had cancelled out Alejandro Garnacho’s opening goal.
After a 1-1 draw in regulation time, Manchester City defeated Manchester United 7-6 in a penalty shootout to win the FA Community Shield for 2024.
This marks City’s first top-flight curtain-raiser victory since defeating Liverpool 5-4 on penalties in 2019 and ends their three-year losing streak in this match (2021, 2022, and 2023).
With eight minutes of normal time remaining, Manchester United’s substitute Alejandro Garnacho appeared to have won the Community Shield when he cut inside and scored a spectacular strike.
That was however, prior to the arrival of another substitute, Bernardo Silva, who headed home Oscar Bobb’s cross eight minutes later to score.
For the fourth time in six seasons, the Community Shield was decided by a penalty shootout. Manuel Akanji took advantage of a miss by Jonny Evans to win the match 7-6 and give Pep Guardiola’s team their first title of the 2024–25 campaign.
Talking Point: The habit of winning
Even though it may not be as significant as other awards, both teams wanted to win the FA Community Shield. The rewards were clear: a Manchester derby, the premier league opener, and, for Manchester City, the opportunity to get revenge on their rivals from Manchester, whom they lost to in the FA Cup final around three months prior. Naturally, the outcome of today’s match would not have affected City’s performance in the 2024–2025 season; after all, City had previously lost its previous three Community Shields (2021, 2022, and 2023) and yet succeeded in achieving notable accomplishments. However, there’s no denying that success is a habit, and Pep Guardiola above all others will believe that, and in the 2024–2025 season, he will undoubtedly consider adding more silverware to the cabinet.
Oscar Bobb of Manchester City won player of the match
The 21-year-old for Manchester City was outstanding today at Wembley. Pep Guardiola is apparently willing to place a great deal of faith and trust in the player this season because of the kind of assured, self-assured performance the player put on both with and without the ball. Bobb only made two starts in the Premier League last season (out of fourteen apps), but if he keeps up his current form, he will play a major role this year. His magical moment of assistance for Bernardo Silva’s equalizer was well-deserved given his performance tonight.
Scores for Players
Man City: Dias 6, Gvardiol 7, O’Reilly 6, Kovacic 7, Ederson 6, Lewis 6, Akanji 7, Bobb 8, Haaland 6, Doku 6. Subs: De Bruyne N/A, Ake N/A, Savio 7, Nunes 6, Bernardo 7.
Man United: Mainoo 6, Mount 6, Diallo 7, Rashford 6, Fernandes 7; Onana 6, Martinez 6, Evans 6, Maguire 6, Dalot 6, Casemiro 7. McTominay 5, Pellistri 6, Collyer 6, Garnacho 7, and Sancho 5 are the substitutes.
