 Wembley Stadium, the venue of the match | |||||||
| Event | 2018–19 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 18 May 2019 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) | ||||||
| Referee | Kevin Friend (Leicestershire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 85,854 | ||||||
The 2019 FA Cup final was an association football match between Manchester City and Watford on 18 May 2019 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the 138th FA Cup final. It was Manchester City's eleventh appearance at the FA Cup final and Watford's second.
Kevin Friend was the referee for the match played in front of 85,854 spectators. Manchester City dominated the early stages of the final. In the 21st minute Abdoulaye Doucouré's shot struck Vincent Kompany's arm in the Manchester City penalty area, but after consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR), Friend declined to award a penalty and showed Doucouré the first yellow card of the game for his subsequent protests. In the 26th minute the deadlock was broken as David Silva scored from a Raheem Sterling header. Twelve minutes later Manchester City doubled their lead after Gabriel Jesus side-footed the ball past Kiko Femenía and Heurelho Gomes in the Watford goal. At 61 minutes City further extended their lead to 3–0 with a goal from substitute Kevin De Bruyne from close range. Seven minutes later Jesus made it 4–0 after taking the ball on the counter-attack and shooting past Gomes. In the 81st minute Sterling scored from a Bernardo Silva cross to make it 5–0, before scoring again in the 87th minute after his initial shot was pushed onto the post by Gomes. The match ended 6–0 to Manchester City: it was only the third time that a team had scored six goals in an FA Cup final, and the margin of victory is the joint-largest in an FA Cup final, equalling Bury's 6–0 win over Derby County in 1903.
De Bruyne was named man of the match. The win completed a domestic treble for Manchester City, who had already won the League Cup and the Premier League that season, which at the time was unprecedented by any English men's team. As they had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, City's continental qualification place for winning the FA Cup went to the team that finished seventh in the league (Wolverhampton Wanderers), who entered the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.