Prince William singles out Man City star after FA Cup final and teases Pep Guardiola | Football | Sport

As Manchester City’s players and manager collected another set of FA Cup winners’ medals, Prince William was on hand to joke about how familiar a sight it is. Pep Guardiola has now won the trophy three times – along with five Carabao Cup titles and six Premier League crowns – with John Stones present throughout the Catalan manager’s decade at the club. Prince William serves as President and Patron of the FA and greeted the players both before and after their 1-0 victory over Chelsea. He teased the hugely successful manager after the game while also recognising Stones’ achievements as the defender prepares to leave the Etihad Stadium.

“Another one, hey!” the royal said with a smile, adding: “Congratulations Pep, well done.” He then turned his attention to Stones, telling the England centre-back “Another one, well done”. Stones and team-mate Bernardo Silva lifted the trophy together, with both men due to move on this summer. While Silva started the match as captain, his colleague was an unused substitute as he prepares to pull the curtain down on an injury-hit season.

Stones and Silva, both 31, are the only players to have been on City’s books for all of their trophy wins under Guardiola. They joined in 2016 and 2017 respectively but will depart on the expiry of their contracts at the end of June.

Guardiola’s own deal runs for another 12 months beyond that but questions have also been asked regarding his future and there is a chance this was his final Wembley outing. When TNT Sports presenter Laura Woods asked the 55-year-old about rumours over his future, City’s manager asked “What rumours?” and cut the interview short not long after that.

The FA Cup triumph brought Guardiola his 20th trophy as City boss. He can still add a 21st this season if his team manages to make up the two-point gap to league leaders Arsenal over the final two games.

His team lost to Crystal Palace at Wembley 12 months ago but made no mistake on Saturday. A second-half goal from Antoine Semenyo was all they needed to see off the challenge of Chelsea and add an FA Cup victory to their Carabao Cup success from March.

City will return to league action against Bournemouth on Tuesday. They finish the campaign at home to Aston Villa but will need Arsenal to drop points against either Burnley or Crystal Palace if they want to deny the Gunners the title.