Just before 7pm, we saw the trophy up close for the first time. Waiting in an interview area near the Manchester City team bus, we saw the FA Cup pass by but it was not held high by Pep Guardiola or clutched fondly to the chest of one of his players.

No, a security guard had it. Held by one handle, just like another piece of kit, it was loaded carefully on to the bus and then, with no fuss or ceremony whatsoever, it was gone.

‘Will there be a party tonight?’ asked a Norwegian journalist, after his usual torrent of questions about Erling Haaland. Not a big one. Not when there is work to be done.

And that was the vibe from Guardiola and his players at Wembley. This was a huge victory, celebrated wildly on the field by the manager and his extraordinary team but then quickly put in its place next to the Premier League title secured two weeks earlier. Box one has been ticked. Now box two. But there is one left. One more game. One more trophy to lift before City take their place in immortality.

The Treble. It stands there now, almost within touching distance. Inter Milan await on Saturday in Istanbul. Did we ever think we would see a team achieve this again in the years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side did it in 1999? It has always been possible but never likely. Not until this City team came along.

Manchester City are almost in touching distance of the Treble after FA Cup glory at Wembley

Haaland was shackled by Man United’s Raphael Varane, but City still emerged victorious

This was a big win for City in its own right. Guardiola has always paid English cup competitions due deference. This was his sixth such triumph. But this one was about much more than one day. Victory will take City onwards to Istanbul fuelled by momentum, adrenaline and belief. And that is important. Defeat, and all that would have come with it, could have derailed them completely.

MATCH FACTS

MANCHESTER CITY (3-2-4-1): Ortega 7; Walker 6 (Laporte 90min), Dias 7, Akanji 6; Stones 8, Rodri 8; Silva 7, GUNDOGAN 9, De Bruyne 7 (Foden 76), Grealish 7 (Ake 89); Haaland 7.

Scorer: Gundogan 1, 51.

Booked: Ortega, Rodri.

Manager: Pep Guardiola 7.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 5; Wan-Bissaka 7, Varane 6, Lindelof 6 (McTominay 83), Shaw 7; Casemiro 6, Fred 6; Fernandes 6, Eriksen 5 (Garnacho 62, 6.5), Sancho 4 (Weghorst 78); Rashford 6.

Scorer: Fernandes 33 (pen).

Booked: Wan-Bissaka, Fred.

Manager: Erik ten Hag 6.

Referee: Paul Tierney 6.

Attendance: 83,179.

Ferguson was there on Saturday. The sight of he and City statesman Mike Summerbee carrying the trophy on to the field before kick-off was one of the highlights of a quite wonderful sporting afternoon. Wembley looked an absolute picture in the sunshine.

A riot of red and blue. The national stadium’s first all-Manchester FA Cup final. The Manchester bee — a symbol that has come to mean so much since the Arena bombing in 2017 — even had a place on the matchday programme. And there was a 3pm kick off, too. It was a beautiful thing, a day to lift the soul.

And City, of course, did their thing. They won. By full time Ferguson was in the royal box doing what he perhaps suspected he would be doing all along. Shaking the hands of victors in sky blue.

When Guardiola came by, there was a hug and a word or two. Ferguson still lives and breathes Old Trafford red but he also knows football genius when he sees it.

On Saturday, this was not City at their best. For half-an-hour or so after Ilkay Gundogan’s stunning opening goal, they actually played poorly. The players lacked their usual rhythm. The geometry of their passing lacked its usual perfection. Up front Haaland was shackled by United’s best player, the clever and courageous French central defender Raphael Varane.

Early in the second half, with United back on terms courtesy of a handball rule that surely has to change, a City pass went awry and Guardiola turned to his own bench with his head in his hands.

So, yes, this was hard work for City. United made it that way. Erik ten Hag’s team were organised, disciplined and willing to run. Bit by bit under Ten Hag, the memories of days this season when they have reverted to their ragged habits of yore are being exorcised. This was a game they lost but it was also one that hinted yet again at brighter days ahead if they can make the right moves in the transfer market this summer.

Ilkay Gundogan’s goals were like works of art as they put aside their crosstown rivals in London

Man City did the hard work that got them the second of a possible three trophies this season

Still, though, City got it done. Gundogan’s two goals were works of art. The first, after 12 seconds, went like a John McEnroe forehand, all top spin and dip as it looped past David de Gea at speed from 20 yards.

The second, soon after half-time, came on the volley again, this time caressed delicately low and curving away from De Gea to his right. There will be those who say De Gea should have saved one of them, if not both. Maybe they should have a go and then come back at that question.

In and around all that, City did the hard stuff, the dirty stuff. And that was the impressive bit. This was one of those games when things did not come easily. Many came to London expecting a landslide.

But this was not that. This was a day when City had to work as hard in their own half as they did in United’s. With three minutes of the game to go, the stats showed that United’s penalty, scored by Bruno Fernandes, had been their only shot on target.

De Gea, meanwhile, had saved well from Kevin De Bruyne and superbly from Haaland with the score at 2-1. But United were in this game until the death and that is one of the reasons Guardiola’s celebrations at full time were so raw and visceral.

The City manager seemed to make sure he embraced all of this players on the field. ‘One more time,’ said Haaland to his team-mates in reference to the Inter game and that was also the message from Guardiola. From the Spaniard, though, there was a particularly long and heartfelt hug for John Stones.

Nobody’s football in the back half of this season speaks to the brilliance of Guardiola’s coaching more than Stones’s. Once more easing into midfield from his central defensive role, Stones contributed a performance that simply took the breath away. The Barnsley Beckenbauer they call him now and it is a cap that fits.

But the genius of all this is that Beckenbauer, the great German, was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 playing this way. Stones was not. He is 29 and has been taught in the space of the last six months. That is the depth of Guardiola’s brilliance.

Now it is on to Istanbul and all Guardiola can hope is that he can wring one more performance from his players. Guardiola admitted City were showing signs of tiredness towards the end of this game and he was not the only one to notice it.

He will also hope for a refereeing performance better than the one contributed here by Paul Tierney. Casemiro should have been sent off for an early stamp on Manuel Akanji while City should also have won a penalty when Fred stepped across De Bruyne in the first half. City were good enough and resilient enough to smooth over the ripples of the things that went against them at Wembley.

Pep Guardiola said his players tired towards the end of their 2-1 win over Manchester United

Kyle Walker and John Stones were among those showing the strength and courage to win

This 95 minutes in the sun should remind them, though, of the depths of courage and strength that need to be reached if the great achievement is to be theirs.

In many ways, the banners that hung at both ends of the stadium said everything about these great clubs. ‘The greatest football team you’ve ever seen,’ said United’s. ‘The boys in blue are coming after you,’ said City’s.

One spoke to the past, the other to the future. It felt about right. City have been hunting down United’s status as Manchester’s dominant club for years and now they smell the blood of their last hold on uniqueness.

Yes, City have one more box to tick but it may be that the step they took on Saturday will turn out to have been the hardest one of all.