MANCHESTER CITY 3 - 1 SUNDERLAND
Toure 54' Nasri 56' Navas 90 Borini 9'
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| CAPITAL ONE CUP WINNERS 2014: MANCHESTER CITY |
A strike from the ‘blue’ saw one of the greatest
League Cup Final goals ever scored at Wembley by Yaya Toure inspire his
Manchester City team mates to come from a goal down, to beat Gus Poyet`s gutsy
Sunderland side 3-1 in the first showpiece final of the season and see Manuel
Pellegrini lift the Capital One Cup to claim his first Managerial trophy in
European football as City had to battle back to claim victory.
The result looked more like a pipe dream after a
terrible First half for Manchester City that saw Sunderland put their opponents
on the back foot for the whole of the opening 45 minutes of play, with
Sunderland playing some lovely attacking football and had City looking to have
reoccurring nightmares of that day last May in the FA Cup final when the
Millionaires were beaten by the paupers in Wigan Athletic, in the last time City
played at Wembley.
Gus Poyet`s men had easily the toughest run to reach the
Cup final, having to knockout the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United over
two legs and then winning the shoot-out, to see the Black Cats reach their
first cup final since back in 1992 when they lost out to Liverpool in the FA
Cup. Sunderland was imperious at home through the competition as they won every
round at home in the run to the final and was hoping that they could transmit
that form to Wembley.
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| Borini Celebrates League cup opening goal Pic: ThGuardian |
Sunderland had the ball in the back of the net after just
7 minutes of play gone in the game, but the flag had gone up for an offside
with 3 Sunderland players all in an offside position. However in the 9th minute
of the game they did have the ball in the back of the net and it counted too, it
was fairly obvious game plan by the Black Cats as they targeted down the City
left and in particular Martin Demichelis, who is the weakest link for the
Manchester team. The experienced defender had been out paced by the run of Fabio
Borini on his inside and in doing so lost his man which put his team in
trouble, that led to City Captain Vincent Kompany trying to clear the ball out
of play and could only kick it against the chest of Borini who chased down the
loose ball and with the outside of the right foot bent it far corner past
Costel Pantillimon in the City goals, with Manuel Pellgrini giving the tall
Romanian the nod. With Sunderland taking a shock lead, the City fans in that
end couldn`t believe they had conceded so early while at the other end of
Wembley, it was a sea of the Red and White Wearsider`s celebrating as they
performed the 'Poznan' that City fans had adopted over the past few seasons.
Fabio Borni goal had given the underdogs a massive boost
for the rest of the game, as they led the team that they have enjoyed success
over a great deal over recent years. Sunderland enjoyed a
good spell of possession after their goal while never really pressuring the
City defence too much, the Blues then had a half chance when the returning
Sergio Aguero to the City line-up, saw the Argentine striker run down the right
wing before putting a cross into the box, where Samir Nasri took a touch but
wasn`t then able to get a clean shot away as the keeper saved it. Predominantly
all of the Sunderland`s attacks were concentrated towards the left side of the
pitch where Martin Demichelis was being targeted by Gus Poyet`s side, as judging
by the evidence of the game it was a correct assumption and was made more
evident, when a throw in came in and saw Former City man Adam Johnson trick the
defender with City defenders at panic stations at the back.
Sunderland then got away with a clear offside decision
when Borini was adjudged onside while coming back from an offside position. A flick on by his team mate just inside the
City half put him through on goal and with Demichelis not wanting to run back and
defence, it was up to Vincent Kompany as the Belgian defender chased down
Borini and put in a fantastic last ditch tackle to see the ball out for a
corner. Up to the half time break Sunderland had 62% share of the possession as
City was outplayed in every department on the pitch with the North East side leading 1-0 into the break and were unlucky not to be ahead by more.
Manuel Pellegrini obviously said something in his half
time team talk as his side played a lot better. They started to get a foothold
in the game but was still unable to break down the Sunderland defense as it was
solid as a rock and City was finding it difficult to penetrate the Red and
White shirted players. David Silva had a chance but his tame shot was saved
easily by Iannone and Sunderland defensive play came to the fore yet again.
Sung Yeung Ki for Sunderland then had a crack from distance and saw Pantilimon doing
well to push it over the bar for a corner kick as the ball swerved coming
towards him.
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| Vincent Kompany delights in Yaya Toure`s Stunner Pic:Yahoo |
It felt like City needed some magic to help them get
back into the game and so up stepped Yaya Toure to score one of the most
memorable goals scored in a League Cup history. The Ivory Coast International
midfielder took a pass from Pablo Zabaleta and the City Talisman stuck it first
time from long range to see his effort dip and was hit with such power and
accuracy that it found the smallest gap in the top far corner to see City level
in the 54th minute.
That Incredible goal then kicked started City into
gear now for this Cup final and a couple of minutes later, seen the game turn
on it`s head with the Blues making it 2-1 through Samir Nasri goal.
City had countered a Sunderland attack and so when
Aleksander Kolarov put a ball across the Sunderland penalty area it saw the
incoming Samir Nasri to strike it first time with the outside of his right foot
to curl it pass the Sunderland keeper and see Manchester City lead 2-1 in the
contest. Sunderland having led for the majority of the Cup Final saw them then start
to unravel after those two quick goals by a powerful City side. Demichelis was
still being seen as the man to target for the Wearside club with them trying to
find an equiliser in this cup tie and won a couple of fouls from the Argentine
defender too. City had to deal with some very good corners by Ki, as
the South Korea midfielder was putting real pressure on the City defenders with
his set pieces kicks.
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| Samir Nasri wheels away after making it 2-1 Pic:TheGuardian |
Vincent Kompany saw his chance go wide from a Nasri
corner as the City Captain swung a leg and saw it go harmlessly wide of the
target as they looked to try and kill off the game with a third goal. With the
time showing 89 minutes on the board, a tackle by Fernandinho outside his
penalty area saw City break on a 5 on 2 counter and when Toure galloped forward
with the ball, you felt a sense of inevitability about the end result. So when he
passed across to his right for the speedy Jesus Navas to run on to, the
Spaniard then side- footed home the third City goal to kill the game off and see
them claim the Capital One Cup.
This was the Chilian boss first trophy as a manager in
European football and you wouldn`t bet against him adding another one too this
season, as they have the slim hopes of targeting the Quadruple with the FA Cup,
Premier League and Champions League still to aim for in the remainder of the
season. Sunderland played their part in an enthralling Cup Final as not many people gave them a hope in the build up to the final and they more than matched City for a long time in the game until the moment of brilliance from Toure seen them lose their way for those crucial three minutes and saw them lose their way in the game after that.
CUP FINAL HIGHLIGHTS : http://bcove.me/wm1axijj (from Mcfc.tv)
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