Chris Sutton has been left baffled by what he saw one Manchester City player do in the first half of the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
After winning their sixth Premier League title in seven years last weekend, the Blues found themselves taking on United in the FA Cup final for a second year in a row.
In last season’s final, two goals from Ilkay Gundogan secured the trophy for the Citizens on their way to their historic Treble, the first of which came just 13 seconds into the match.
This time around, things didn’t start quite so smoothly for Pep Guardiola’s side as they found themselves 2-0 down by halftime.
In fact, during the first half at a key moment of the game, one pundit couldn’t help but share his astonishment at one thing he saw someone in the City team do.
Sutton baffled by Man City star in first half vs Man United
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live (via BBC Sport), Sutton had this to say on the mix-up between Josko Gvardiol and Stefan Ortega that led to United’s first goal.
He said: “Well what is Gvardiol doing? I was just praising him for having an exceptional season.
“I think it’s a misunderstanding between Gvardiol and the goalkeeper Ortega. Gvardiol heads the ball over Ortega, it’s a ball in behind, he’s running back towards his goal.
“Communication must have been an issue, so they’re not on the same wavelength, and [Alejandro] Garnacho has a simple opportunity to just pop the ball into an empty net.”
A moment to forget for Gvardiol and Ortega
As Sutton described, Gvardiol and Ortega found themselves in an unfortunate case of miscommunication which led to United breaking the deadlock and scoring their first goal of the final.
While mistakes can and do happen in football, it’s just a shame that one like this happened in a final to put a dampener on the day after last weekend’s title celebrations.
However, we feel that it’s something both players can learn from and make sure doesn’t happen again in the future.