In order to win the FA Cup, Manchester United had to achieve something they had never done before — beat Chelsea.
However, they played in the same manner that they always have when facing Emma Hayes’ side.
To write about women’s football in England is to find new ways to use the phrase “this current version”. As clubs are founded, shuttered, reformed and occasionally merged with others, it can be hard to trace lineages.
This was the first time United Women had reached the FA Cup final, and the first time this current version of the club had gone further than the quarter-finals of the competition.
Previous United appearances at Wembley included the then-regional version of the team playing against Oldham Athletic in April 1994 ahead of a men’s FA Cup semi-final and then in a warm-up game against Newcastle United ahead of the 1996 men’s Charity Shield.
The 2022-23 class has represented something new, different and promising but has constantly threatened to be a last hurrah. This current version, formed five years ago, is approaching the end of a cycle that could see the departures of several of its best players in the summer.
So, in the blue corner at Wembley on Sunday were Chelsea — the established and formidable force United have been duelling with at the top of the…
