Pep Guardiola's first trophy in English football was the EFL Cup and he won it for a third time as Manchester City beat Aston Villa.
Manchester City won their fifth EFL Cup in the past seven seasons with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley on Sunday.
Sergio Aguero's goal got the defending champions up and running, with Rodri heading in a controversial second from a corner that should not have been given.
Mbwana Samatta's diving header got Villa back in the contest ahead of the break but City dominated the second half before surviving an almighty late scare.
Having been on the back foot, Villa came close to a last-gasp leveller as Bjorn Engels forced Claudio Bravo into a fine save, tipping his header onto the post as City won the trophy for a third year in a row.
Match Events
3' CLOSE! El Ghazi header over the bar
Elmohamady puts in a delightful cross from the right edge of the penalty area to the far post for El Ghazi - who puts his free header just over the crossbar!
8' Zinchenko's shot blocked
10' CHANCE! Aguero header over the bar
Aguero and David Silva link up intelligently in the penalty area, but it’s stolen off of the foot of the striker before he could take a shot - Engels clearing anywhere he can to alleviate the pressure.
20' GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Man City (Aguero)
Rodrigo plays a lovely ball over the top into the penalty area for Foden, who uses his head to knock it down for Aguero. The striker sees the bouncing ball and manages to power an awkward volley past Nyland! 1-0 to City!
26' CLOSE! Foden's shot wide out
Zinchenko hits an exceptional switch to the outside of the penalty area for Foden on the right, who cuts inside and smashes a shot that takes a touch off of Targett before going behind for a corner
30' GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Man City (Rodri)
A set-piece that probably shouldn't have been rewarded as replays suggest the final touch came off Gundogan leads to a goal as Rodrigo gets the better of Guilbert just outside the six-yard box and thumps his header past the keeper! 2-0 to Manchester City!
35' CHANCE! Sterling's shot blocked by Mings
A lovely ball over the top for Foden is centred for Sterling, who turns and blasts a shot from inside the 18-yard box which Mings does fantastically well to block without using his arms.
41' GOAL! Aston Villa 1-2 Man City (Samatta)
Stones falls over in an attempt to stop the run of El Ghazi, allowing the winger to continue unimpeded down the left. When in position, he looks up and finds the run of Samatta, whose leaping header beats Bravo at the near post!
53' Foden long shot just wide out
Manchester City’s free-kick is headed out of the penalty area by Mings, who puts the bouncing clearance at the foot of the wide forward.
Without time to settle it down, he hits the volley into the ground and bouncing it towards goal, skimming the post on it’s way out.
57' Yellow Card! Sterling booked
Sterling goes into a nasty tackle on Guilbert, running straight through the full-back without any chance to win the ball. He’s booked for the foul.
58' Subs! De Bruyne replaces Gundogan
60' Yellow Card! Rodri booked
De Bruyne slips while in possession, leading to a potential counter-attack through Douglas Luiz. Rodrigo is there to prevent the Villa build-up with a sliding tackle which takes his man down. He's given a yellow card for the infraction.
72' Yellow Card! Nakamba booked
A reckless sliding challenge leaves Aguero in a heap and Nakamba in the referee’s notebook. The ball was there to be won but it’s a two-footed challenge from the midfielder who can count himself lucky to stay on the pitch.
74' Nyland denies Rodri's effort
Rodrigo gets free from a corner for a second time, but his header to the far post is stopped at the corner of the goal and pushed out for a second set-piece.
77' Subs! Bernardo in,Silva out
80' Aguero's shot inches wide!
Bernardo Silva gets into the penalty area, driving to the byline before chipping a cross to the far post for Aguero. The Argentina international attempts an audacious scissor-kick which flies narrowly wide - though it looks like the striker has injured himself in the process.
84' Subs! Jesus replaces Aguero
88' POST! Engels almost score but Bravo makes decent save
Engels rises above Jesus and puts a close-range header on target from a corner, with Bravo only able to push the chance onto the frame of the goal before it ricochets out! The ball is recollected and sent back into the penalty area, but Bravo manages to get two hands onto the second attempt.
90' SAVE! Nyland parries Bernardo long shot
Man City players lift the trophy and celebrate
sufyrumu
2513
The MAN from the CITY just destroyed the ASTON martin car in the VILLA park to get to the CARABAO energy drink.
blackpilot
1125
Pep Guardiola is simply unstoppable: La Liga 🏆🏆🏆 Bundesliga 🏆🏆🏆 Champions League 🏆🏆 Club World Cup 🏆🏆🏆 UEFA Super Cup 🏆🏆🏆 Spanish Super Cup 🏆🏆🏆 Copa del Rey 🏆🏆 DFB-Pokal 🏆🏆 FA Cup 🏆 League Cup 🏆🏆🏆 Premier League 🏆🏆 Community Shield 🏆🏆
ishti
778
Hattrick Of EPL Cup. 💙💙💙💙💙
Amospablo
721
Yes man city won the cup but I must admit I am proud of Aston villa because they gave man city a fight and gave everything they have on the pitch
DaMhztourage
546
Routine victory for Pep City and his boys , some sort of solace after FIFA ban , congrats
SWEEPERKEEPER
414
City started with the magnificent 7 on the bench; Ederson, Otamendi, Mendy, KDB, Mehriz, Jesus, B Silva . La Porte and Sani in the stand . What a squad !.
Theman21
407
This scoreline doesn’t show how much City dominated
Hikbprsyz
306
weldone Pep n Manchester City Pep now has a total trophies of 29 in his career. 14 trophies with Barcelona 7 trophies with Bayern and 8. trophies with Man City
AppiagyeiGideon
243
He was born to be the best, number one and nothing less
Jamanoor88
211
Man City are still a sublime team - news to no one but seemingly forgotten by some while Liverpool's excellence dominates our league. For all the legitimate criticisms of the club away from the pitch, on it they are terrific - it's hard to single out individuals when the entire purpose of the Guardiola project is to build a beautiful team, but a few stand out - Phil Foden, so young yet so pronounced and at ease on the pitch, responsible for numerous moments of beauty while playing and supplier of a wonderful assist. Bravo may be a distant second to Ederson in goal but he is still a fine, international quality goalkeeper that produced a save worth the trophy. Say what you want about John Stones and his mistake but after that moment he was superb, didn't allow any narrative to be woven and formed a resolute duo with Fernandinho at the back. The forwards were generally very good, obviously not their absolute best seeing as they only scored twice but clearly gave Villa a complex conundrum to grapple with for the 90 minutes. The fact Villa were only at City's door for a handful of minutes is testament to the firm grasp of power the City offensive unit had over the tie. Just another trophy for Guardiola in his reign at the club - the big prize, Europe, is absolutely achievable but you really can't dismiss just how phenomenal City are at playing football, and that's in large part due to the ease at which Guardiola teams construct their gameplay across the pitch. Villa were far from disgraced and demonstrated their ability when up against a stellar opponent. I would be surprised if they didn't take this fight into the relegation battle, especially as their rivals appear to be waking up too.
sufyrumu
156
The great Tactician has done it again with whatever line up he uses he always conquers. CONGRATULATIONS to Man city and the great tactician PEP GUARDIOLA.
Habcilprsy
149
The most ineffective players in ManC squad were D. Silva and Stone. The best players were Gondugun and Foden. Replacing Gondagun with Debruyna was a big mistake because DB didn’t make a single telling pass and should be rated less then 5 in fact it is his worst performance since he joined City. Sterling was a flop, he was completely smothered out and contributed nothing.
Agripina
134
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