The 4 teams to play both an FA Cup & UCL final in the same season

Manchester City are just the fifth team in the modern era to make it to both the FA Cup and Champions League finals.

Having already won the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s men are aiming to emulate their city rivals and become only the second side in the history of English football to win the treble. City are strong favourites against Manchester United and Inter – but history has shown us that winning two high-pressure finals is easier said than done.

We’ve taken a look at the four teams to have reached both the FA Cup and Champions League finals since 1992 and how they fared.

Manchester United – 1998-99

The only team to ever win the treble of the FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League, Manchester United’s 1999 side remains arguably their best ever.

They also had the unenviable task of the FA Cup final taking place just four days before their Champions League final in Barcelona.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side made light work of Newcastle at Wembley, with goals from Paul Scholes and Teddy Sheringham securing a 2-0 victory before they crossed the channel.

The effects of such a turnaround were clearly felt, as they were behind for 85 minutes of their final clash with Bayern Munich, before Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came off the bench to win the game in injury time.

Ferguson clearly understood the pressure of playing two important games in such a short period, as he made five changes in his lineup after the FA Cup. Solskjaer started at Wembley, but came off the bench in Barcelona.

When you have as much attacking firepower as United did with Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Sheringham and Solskjaer, competing on multiple fronts isn’t too difficult.

READ: Teddy Sheringham talks replacing Eric Cantona and 11 days in May 1999

Chelsea – 2011-12

Chelsea found themselves in a wholly unprecedented situation when they finished sixth in the league, but set to travel to Wembley for the FA Cup final before a trip to Munich for the Champions League final.

They had started the season so badly that Andres Villas-Boas was sacked as manager, and Roberto Di Matteo assumed an interim role, but this turned out to be one of the greatest interim appointments ever.

The Blues breezed past Liverpool in the FA Cup final, with goals from Ramires and Drogba paving the way for a 2-1 win, but were then forced into a number of changes for the Champions League final.

John Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles were suspended, and three of them had started the FA Cup final. Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill and David Luiz came in to replace them in Munich, and did a stellar job as Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties.

An agonisingly long 210 minutes, but there was glory in both competitions as a reward.

“That group of players deserved that success because they had been so successful at Chelsea,” Di Matteo stated after the final in Munich.

“That was an immense moment of their career to finally win the Champions League.”

Chelsea – 2020-21

Nine years later, Chelsea looked uncannily close to repeating their efforts of 2012.

Frank Lampard was sacked after a poor start to the season, and was replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who guided Chelsea to both finals in just a few months.

“As a manager, there is no time to waste. Honestly, now we compete for the FA Cup, we will get ready to compete at the highest level in Champions League, and we want to create a team that is absolutely no fun to play against,” Tuchel stated upon his appointment in January 2021.

And he was right, reaching both finals in an impressive manner.

However, Chelsea were stunned when Youri Tielemans scored a second-half stunner to give Leicester City a 1-0 victory at Wembley, and there wasn’t much optimism for the Champions League final two weeks later.

Chelsea travelled to Porto to face Manchester City, who were Champions of England.

Tuchel made three changes from the FA Cup final, which saw first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy come in, as well as Kai Havertz replacing Hakim Ziyech.

This proved to be the difference between the two finals, as Havertz scored in the first half to give Chelsea a 1-0 win, becoming Champions of Europe for the second time.

Losing one final turned out to be the spark that won them the second one.

It's been 2⃣ years to the day since Kai Havertz's goal sealed the #UCL trophy for Chelsea! 🙌

Next week, Man City once again have the opportunity to get their hands on that trophy… 🏆pic.twitter.com/wSs5jFNTOE

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 29, 2023

Liverpool – 2021-22

Liverpool approached the run-in last season with a genuine shot of becoming the first side in history to win the quadruple.

Jurgen Klopp’s men had beaten Chelsea on penalties in the League Cup final and were snapping at Manchester City’s heels in the title race.

With the FA Cup final, another penalty victory over Chelsea, controversially played before the final round of Premier League fixtures, Liverpool went into the last day of the league campaign with hope still alive of winning the whole lot – especially when City fell two goals behind to Aston Villa.

But City came back to beat Villa, finishing a point ahead of Liverpool, which knocked the wind out of their sails a little by the time they faced Real Madrid in a rematch of the 2018 Champions League final. For a third final in 2021-22, Liverpool failed to score as Los Blancos goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois produced a legendary performance between the sticks.

This time they were made to pay. There’d be no chance to show their penalty shootout steel after Vinicius Junior’s second-half strike proved the difference in a 1-0 defeat in Paris.

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