Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish hailed the “best ever” win of his career after the Blues stunned Arsenal 2-1 to win the club’s first trophy in 48 years.
McLeish, who won seven trophies during his spell as manager of Scottish giants Ranger, said guiding Birmingham to the League Cup trumped everything he had achieved north of the border.
“At Rangers I was expected to win trophies, but to come to England, my first trophy attempt, and to win against the might of Arsenal is a dream come true for everybody connected to the club,” McLeish said. “Nobody gave us a prayer — we were massive underdogs, but sometimes the bookies don’t get it right and we proved that today with phenomenal belief, phenomenal courage and some good football.”
Photo: Reuters
Birmingham’s victory via a last-minute goal by substitute Obafemi Martins guarantees the Midlands club a place in European competition next season.
On-loan Martins etched his place in Birmingham folklore following a defensive mix-up by the Gunners that left the recent Nigerian arrival from Russian club Rubin Kazan with the simple task of tapping the ball into the net.
“I have scored a lot of important goals but since I was at Inter Milan this is the most important because it won a trophy,” Martins said.
Photo: AFP
“I think this is the easiest goal I’ve ever scored in my career and it’s very important,” he said.
“I’m glad I scored and I’m glad we won. I think it was my second touch,” Martins said. “The gaffer [McLeish] said to me that I would come on in the second half, so I think he did it right.”
“It means a lot to the fans and players, we really need this trophy,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
McLeish has been desperate for Birmingham’s Hong Kong-based owner Carson Yeung to bankroll a foray into the transfer market, but he was happy that he was able to deliver the League Cup to Yeung, who was watching from the stands at Wembley on his 51st birthday.
“I’m very pleased for Carson,” McLeish said. “It’s a fantastic birthday present for him. He must think it’s easy being owner of a football club. Ninth position last year and now a Cup, but he knows we’ve got some battles ahead, which are equally important if not more important.”
McLeish revealed that Birmingham had not even made plans for a victory celebration on Sunday, keeping the champagne on ice until after next weekend’s Premier League showdown with West Brom.
“We reserved next weekend for some celebrations, but we’ve got West Brom, so I hope it’s not a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show because the West Brom game is vital for us. That’s another cup final,” he said.
McLeish, meanwhile, said Birmingham had struggled to maintain their composure after an officiating error in the second minute of Sunday’s final that could have been costly to his team.
Birmingham should have been awarded a penalty and seen Arsenal reduced to 10 men after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny hauled down Lee Bowyer in the box, only for play to be called back for offside.
Replays showed that Gunners defender Bacary Sagna was playing Bowyer onside.
“We thought that it was something the officials shouldn’t have missed,” McLeish said.
“They didn’t get it right. We all threw a strop and we threatened to lose our focus, the players and myself, but we gathered the team at halftime and said we must retain our composure and lay off the moaning at the officials because it had happened, it was past,” he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB