Manchester City made history on Sunday by winning their fourth Carabao Cup in a row and their sixth in seven years by beating Tottenham 1-0 at Wembley in front of 8,000 fans. Aymeric Laporte's header proved to be the difference-maker with eight minutes to go, damning Spurs to another trophyless season with the club still to win a trophy since 2007/08.
How City made history!
Manchester City dominated the opening half and created numerous chances, though the blues were unable to convert as Raheem Sterling had a couple of half-chances and Phil Foden hit the post in a frustrating opening period. Aymeric Laporte was perhaps lucky to avoid being sent off after two blatant yellow card challenges on Lucas Moura, although if he was booked he may not have made the second challenge anyway.
Tottenham grew into the game during the second half and forced a solid save from Zack Steffen early into the half but then failed to seriously threaten City's goal after that, with the blues impressively in command throughout the game. Pep's side, chasing a fourth successive league cup trophy, continued to probe and finally found the breakthrough with eight to play. Raheem Sterling drew a reckless foul from Serge Aurier, and from the resulting cross, Laporte headed in past Lloris to send the 2,000 City fans into delirium on their return.
Player Ratings: Steffen (8), Walker (7), Dias (7), Laporte (8), Cancelo (7), Fernandinho (8), Gundogan (8), De Bruyne (8), Mahrez (9), Sterling (7), Foden (8)
Subs: Bernardo (N/A), Rodri (N/A)
Aymeric Laporte's 82nd-minute header won the cup for City!
Sergio and Dinho!
City's cup triumph was their sixth in seven years and two players have been at the club to have seen every single one of them - Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho. This victory is their sixth, and they have now become the two players to have won the most league cups in history. They were legends at this club already, but a milestone like this is incredibly impressive for the pair of them. As Fernandinho said, when he's old and has some shrimp, this will be a milestone to look back on and be proud of. As for Sergio, it wasn't the fairytale goal but he's destined to end the season with a league cup and Premier League already, and there's one more on the horizon.
Two of Manchester City's greatest ever players. Legends.
Pep Guardiola's incredible records:
With this win, Pep Guardiola has now won all six of the cup finals he's played at Wembley, including five at Manchester City. The boss has also won fourteen of the last fifteen finals he's been involved in and has remarkably won the last eleven on the spin. I cannot stress it enough, this is a generational manager that the Premier League might not ever see the ilk of again, so treasure every single moment we have with Guardiola because when he's gone, this type of domestic dominance won't ever be seen ever again. This is once-in-a-lifetime stuff, so cherish it.
Four in a row.
Back-to-back-to-back-to-back!
2018 - 3-0 v Arsenal
2019 - 0-0 (5-4) v Chelsea
2020 - 2-1 v Aston Villa
2021 - 1-0 v Tottenham
City's domestic dominance continued with a win over Tottenham and the blues continue to raise the bar and expectation under Pep Guardiola. There was to be no quadruple this season after an FA Cup exit last weekend but there was to be one quadruple this season, which was the fourth Carabao Cup in a row. The blues now have won the joint-most in a row, tied with Liverpool, and also now have the most Carabao Cups of any English club, also tied with Liverpool. Football heritage, eh?
Celebrate this one blues, PSG up next.