For half an hour at Wembley today, it looked like he had forgotten that history is always written by the victor.

Indeed, Manchester United appeared certain to be the history-makers in their inexorable march towards another treble.

But when Dimitar Berbatov produced two of the misses of the season to let City off the hook, something stirred inside Mancini's men, something which made them think they may not get a better chance than this.

Yes, their moment of glory came with a huge price tag, but the blue half of Manchester will not care a jot after moving to within touching distance of their first piece of silverware for 35 years.

The twin towers still framed Wembley the last time City came to town in 1999, when they turned around their Second Division play-off final against Gillingham.

But as they have a habit of doing whenever their derby rivals achieve something, United had already completely upstaged them by sealing the treble in even more dramatic fashion.

The gap between the sides has been coming down ever since and Sheik Mansour's bottomless pockets have threatened to close it completely.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson knows it too, having branded City the "noisy neighbours" after watching them poach Carlos Tevez from Old Trafford and rub United's faces in it with the infamous "Welcome to Manchester" poster.

They were also the club that reportedly turned Wayne Rooney's head earlier this season before the striker performed a dramatic U-turn and earned a huge pay rise.

United have their own banner with which to taunt City, one they have updated every year their rivals have failed to win a trophy since 1976.

That was left at home today but it looked like having another number added to it after the first 15 minutes, during which the 90,000 at Wembley witnessed the same old City.

Content to nullify United, their lack of ambition somehow went unpunished when Berbatov missed twice from a combined distance of eight yards.

The only debate was over which was the worst of them, the snatched shot saved by Joe Hart or the lunge which careered over the crossbar.

The suspended Wayne Rooney watched on, head in hands, thinking, "I would have scored both of those" - or something more colourful.

But it was the reaction of City's players to those misses that was most telling, with Mario Balotelli beginning to stir from his isolated slumber.

Okay, the Italian has nowhere near the energy and enthusiasm of the injured Tevez but he showed he could match the Argentinian for talent with a blockbuster 30-yard effort which almost caught out Edwin van der Sar.

Joleon Lescott fired over unmarked on the volley and suddenly we had a game - nay, a cup tie.

City were much later back onto the field than United for the second half but, boy, were they ready.

They tore into their opponents in a manner previously not thought possible under Mancini, forcing errors which were ultimately rewarded.

Yaya Toure pounced on Michael Carrick's dithering and remained the coolest man at Wembley to slot through Van der Sar's legs.

Mancini's City were expected to sit back but they threw men forward in uncharacteristic fashion, with even Vincent Kompany getting in on the act.

United have a history of their own, a history of comebacks, and when Joe Hart tipped Nani's deflected free-kick onto the bar, another looked on the cards.

But Paul Scholes has made a career out of horrendous tackling and his thigh-high challenge on Pablo Zabaleta seemed to end the contest.

Now City went into defence mode but they knew they could hold out against 10 men.

Some things never change, though, and Balotelli could not help but spark some ugly scenes as City celebrated their historic triumph.