Pep Guardiola reveals Stefan Ortega will start FA Cup final

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega will start in Saturday's FA Cup final.

The Spaniard has stated that he will not be selecting first-choice shot-stopper Ederson for the derby clash against Manchester United.

Ortega has been limited to appearances in the domestic cup competitions this season since joining on a free transfer last summer.

The 30-year-old has played all five of the Citizens' games in the competition this campaign.

And he has starred between the sticks having failed to concede a goal in City's run to the final.

Guardiola was asked about whether the German would keep his spot when speaking in his pre-match press conference.

To which he said: "Yeah he's going to play.

"It's always been the same in the cups, even with Barcelona and Munich, so he's going to play in the FA Cup."

The 52-year-old's faith in starting Ederson's previous back-up Zach Steffen cost City a place in the final in the last two seasons.

He was caught out in the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in 2021 which saw Hakim Ziyech tap home into an empty net.

And in last year's 3-2 loss against Liverpool, he was at fault for Sadio Mane's first goal, as the Senegalese winger tackled him to score.

Guardiola also provided a positive injury update regarding Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji.

The quarter all missed the final Premier League game of the season at Brentford for a variety of reasons.

Guardiola said of his squad: "They've trained well in the last two training sessions. They are all of them, more or less, fine."

Guardiola is preparing for a tough contest against a United side who will not be short of incentives at Wembley.

As well the usual cup final and derby motivations, United are also bidding to prevent City emulating their so far unique achievement of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.

City thrashed United 6-3 early in their manager Erik ten Hag's reign back in October but Guardiola feels they are a considerably better side now.

He said: "A final is special for itself but what United have been doing in the last four, five, six months - they are a completely different team from the beginning of the season when we faced them here.

"I have the feeling that the team has improved from the beginning of the season - the patterns are more clear and the quality they have."

Guardiola insists he is taking the fixture in isolation and not yet thinking about it in the context of a potentially glorious treble.

He said: "It would be good for us if we think about what we have to do to win one game.

"We have to analyse the strength of our opponent and see the weaknesses they have. The focus is, it's a football game, that's the most important thing.

"What's (said) outside is normal, we cannot control it, but the last two games of the season we have to do what we have to do on the pitch to win the game."