FA Cup final facts and figures

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Facts and figures relating to the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Stoke City at Wembley



Stadium on Saturday.

                                                                   

-- Manchester City's appearance in the Cup final comes

exactly 30 years to the day since they were beaten by Tottenham

Hotspur in 1981 in the first final to be replayed at Wembley.



                                                                   

-- The original game ended in a 1-1 draw with City's Tommy

Hutchison scoring for both teams. City led the replay 2-1 with

20 minutes to go but lost 3-2 after Argentine Ricky Villa's

famous winning goal for Spurs.



                                                                   

-- Stoke City, the second oldest professional club in

England formed in 1863, have never previously reached the final.



                                                                   

-- They reached the semi-finals in 1899, 1971 and 1972.



                                                                   

-- Stoke's 5-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in this year's

semi-final was the biggest winning margin at that stage of the

competition since Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Grimsby Town by

the same score in 1939.



                                                                   

-- Manchester City will be taking part in their ninth final,

having won four and lost four..



                                                                   

-- Manchester City are one of only five teams to reach the FA

Cup final and be relegated in the same season, a fate they

suffered in 1926.



                                                                   

-- A crowd of 84,569 watched an FA Cup sixth-round match

between Manchester City and Stoke at Maine Road in 1934, the

highest attendance for a game in England outside London.

Manchester City won 1-0.



                                                                   

-- The two clubs have met seven times in the FA Cup with

both winning three matches and one ending in a draw.



                                                                   

-- Their most recent FA Cup meeting was last season when

Stoke beat Manchester City 3-1 after extra time in a fifth-round

replay.



                                                                   

-- They have only met once this season, drawing 1-1 at Stoke

on Nov. 27. They are due to meet again in the Premier League at

Eastlands three days after the final.



                                                                   

-- With City qualifying for a berth in the Champions League

next season, Stoke have secured a berth in the Europa League for

the first time.



                                                                   

-- Stoke's Tony Pulis is the first Welshman to manage a team

in the FA Cup final as a fulltime manager. The only other

Welshman to lead a side into the final was Jimmy Murphy who took

Manchester United there in 1958 but he was caretaker-manager

while Matt Busby was recuperating from the injuries he suffered

in the Munich Air Crash.



                                                                   

-- City's Roberto Mancini is bidding to become the third

Italian to manage an FA Cup-winning team and the second in

successive seasons following Chelsea's triumph under Carlo

Ancelotti. The first Italian manager to win the FA Cup was

Gianluca Vialli, who took Chelsea to victory in 2000.



                                                                   

-- One of the teams will end a long barren spell without a

major honour. Stoke's only trophy came in 1972 when they won the

League Cup. City's last success was in 1976 when they won the

same trophy.