Women’s FA Cup photo essay – road to Wembley, fifth round: Manchester United v Manchester City

A fortnight after facing each other in the Women’s Super League, the two Manchester clubs came up against each other in the FA Cup. The WSL match was a tight affair, which City dominated and edged courtesy of a sublime chip from 20 yards out by Caroline Weir. With United sitting fourth in the WSL table and City fifth, the tie would be a tight one to call especially as league form naturally goes out of the window in any derby cup clash.

Manchester City fans await the arrival of the teams, including Ellen White (below left) and Lauren Hemp (below right).

Amongst the City fans waiting outside Leigh Sports Village were John (above centre right) and David (above centre left). John said: “It’s my first time I’ve come to watch this … yeah it’s usually the men’s team. This old man here now (David) has started to watch the women’s and he loves it. So hopefully it’s a blue win.”

A mum with two children, the daughter is a City fan and the son is a United fan. When asked for a prediction of the score – daughter: I think 2-1. Son: err … 2-1 to United. Mum: I’m going 2-1 United. (Her City fan daughter groans).

The match was broadcast live on BBC Two, with presenting duties being taken by Alex Scott (top right), Rachel Brown (middle left) and Willie Kirk (middle right). The team’s WSL match in October 2021 attracted a record peak audience of 1.1m on BBC One and there were also 114,000 live streams of the 2-2 draw on BBC Sport online.

United started brightly, pressing and harrying their neighbours and took the lead after 13 minutes when captain Katie Zelem’s corner looped in at the far post. City’s attempts to get back into the game during the rest of the first half were stymied by United’s impressive defensive display with the visitors