Pep Guardiola on Sunday hailed his Manchester City side’s desire to leave a lasting legacy after lifting a third straight EFL Cup by beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley thanks to goals from Sergio Aguero and Rodrigo.
City have now won eight of the past nine trophies on offer in English soccer under Guardiola, who has won 29 trophies in his managerial career.
“[Since] we won the first title here against Arsenal in the League Cup we played 11 competitions and won eight. Is a lot,” Guardiola said. “For this club it is not just about one title, it is about showing every game we play counts and we want to win. Everybody knows we have the responsibility to fight, to try to win the titles. Eight out of 11 is something remarkable.”
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After City sped into a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes, Mbwana Samatta pulled a goal back for Villa, but their wait for the club’s first silverware since 1996 goes on.
“I’m disappointed. Everyone wrote us off, but there was a lot of belief in that dressing room,” Aston Villa manager Dean Smith said. “Unfortunately, you have a mountain to climb against a team like Man City when you go 2-0 behind.”
Guardiola made eight changes from the side that won 2-1 at Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday last week, with Kevin de Bruyne among those left on the bench.
However, it mattered little as City had the luxury of recalling Aguero, Raheem Sterling and David Silva, and the gulf in class showed.
Guardiola’s raft of changes also handed a rare start to Phil Foden and the 19-year-old more than justified his selection with a man-of-the-match performance.
Rodrigo’s fine pass picked out Foden, who headed back into the path of Aguero and the Argentine’s deflected effort beat Orjan Nyland in the Villa goal to open the scoring on 20 minutes.
Villa felt aggrieved at the source of City’s second as Jack Grealish fired the ball off Ilkay Gundogan for what should have been a goal-kick. Instead, City doubled their lead as Gundogan’s corner was met with a powerful downward header from Rodrigo.
Villa could barely even get a touch for the next 10 minutes as the holders threatened to run riot and repeat of the 6-1 thrashing they handed Villa in January.
Sterling had a glorious chance for his first goal of the year deflected behind by a brave block from Tyrone Mings, but moments later the reason Mings is ahead of John Stones in the pecking order for England selection became clear as the City defender fell over his own feet to give Villa a lifeline.
A long ball forward eventually fell to Anwar El Ghazi and from his cross Samatta headed low past Claudio Bravo, to the delight of the traveling thousands from Birmingham and Villa fan Prince William in the stands.
The difference in the desperation for success between the two supports was obvious as Villa were roared on vociferously throughout, while City failed to sell out their allocation.
City’s failure to turn their dominance into more goals in the second half gave the Villa fans belief in a fairy-tale fightback and it nearly arrived three minutes from time when Bjorn Engels rose highest at a corner, only for the often-criticized Bravo to turn his header onto the post and maintain City’s grip on the competition.
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