For a moment, just after Yaya Toure’s penalty had won the League Cup for Manchester City on Sunday, hero Willy Caballero seemed unaware of what had just transpired in the Wembley final against Liverpool.
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It went to penalties, where Liverpool put in a poor performance, with Lucas Leiva, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana all missing, allowing Manchester City to win 3-1.
City immediately rallied and were denied twice by Mignolet, who made crucial stops from Fernando and Yaya Toure as the game moved into extra-time. I think we deserved to win before the penalties.
And City were made to pay for those missed chances when Liverpool levelled late on. During his press conference Pellegrini said “I always want to win all the trophies that I participate”.
Jurgen Klopp fielded an impressive attacking trident of Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge, but Liverpool struggled to break down a City defence superbly marshalled by captain Vincent Kompany, and failed to get a first-half shot on target for the first time in 87 matches.
Revealing he had studied Liverpool’s penalty takers on video, Caballero, who has played only 12 times this season, added: “I tried to see all the penalties last night, but my intuition got me through”.
It may lack the prestige of the FA Cup, but the Capital One Cup represents an opportunity of silverware neither Manuel Pellegrini nor Jurgen Klopp can afford to turn down.
“For this young group of lads, I think it could be something that pushes us on to be even hungrier for trophies”.
Leicester’s win against Norwich on Saturday means Pellegrini’s side trail the league leaders by nine points. At this moment we have to go the hard way, nothing is easy.
Liverpool equalised in the 83rd minute when Phillipe Coutinho scored from a rebound after a shot had initially hit the under of the City post. “The decision I took last week at Chelsea was very important for winning this trophy tonight and winning in Kiev on Wednesday”.
“You’re either in or out, through to the next round or not, so it’s very important for us”.
Pellegrini came in for criticism for selecting a youthful team nearly completely devoid of recognisable names for City’s trip to Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup fifth round, which saw Chelsea win 5-1.
The Reds boss will no doubt make chances to his squad with players coming and going, but he insists you do not need to spend millions to do so. Only silly idiots stay on the floor. “You can fall, but it is how you stand up”.
The game should never have gone to extra-time or penalties. We are working hard, in the middle of the season, it is important for us to keep fighting now.
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Aguero had led Liverpool centre back Mamadou Sakho a merry dance in the build-up, the Frenchman still dizzy after an earlier clash of heads with team mate Emre Can that eventually forced him off to be replaced by Kolo Toure.
