Match Statistics: Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham
Aymeric LaPorte might not have been on Wembley’s pitch when Kevin de Bruyne hit a free kick across the Tottenham box in the 81st minute of the Carto Cup final, but Manchester City would not care one bit.
Laporte surpassed de Bruyne’s cross Hugo Lloris at the highest level, with the defender scoring the only goal of the game after a dominant performance from Pep Guardiola’s side.
City were headed to a nightmare, with 30 minutes of extra time for the last time, just three days before the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
But thanks to Laporte’s late intervention, City now have the first of a possible three trophies in the bag as the season enters its final furlong.
Spurs, however, were right to feel a little tough after Laporte caught Lucas Moura twice during the first half, with Brazil stopping the international to pull him back.
Both offenses typically involved yellow cards, and even then only the second was punished with a booking by referee Paul Tierney.
Would he have been given a second challenge if he had been given a yellow card for the first time? This is a question that will go unanswered, but he is unlikely to appeal to North London fans.
We will also never know whether Laporte would have started here or not, John Stones was sent against Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Therefore, the England international missed a suspension, allowing Laporte to step down after a season in which he was forced to watch from the sidelines in several matches following the resurgence of the Stones and the arrival of Reuben Dias.
His pair of crude pull-backs on Lucas showed that he was no longer the chief patron, who was once under Guardiola.
That said, it would be LaPorte to go down in the history books, which ensured City’s insane love affair with the Carabao Cup.
In winning the trophy for the fourth consecutive season, the club have now played matches in the 1980s to the record played by Lisepul, while Guardiola is now the joint most successful manager in the history of the competition.
City last lost a Carabao Cup tie in October 2016, while captain Fernandinho – who lifted the trophy with fellow stalwart Sergio Aguero – has now won the competition six times.
The joy of claiming the trophy in front of 2,000 City fans inside the stadium was enjoyed by the relief that the squad was not supposed to play for another 30 minutes after a game that should have actually wrapped up inside the first half.
Toby Aldevireld twice saved Tottenham with a block from Rahtham Sterling and a close-range effort from Phil Foden, who was displaced to the post.
Riyad Mahrez, meanwhile, was inches away from breaking the deadlock with two fierce attacks, before Loris brilliantly pulls off João Canso’s effort as a jumper – whose only shot came from Giovano Lo Celso – Somehow survived till then.
There were suggestions from inside the Spurs camp that the Lilywits have returned to a similar style to that used by Mauricio Pochettino under interim manager Ryan Mason.
Seemingly, “Park-A-Bus” was football that was disliked by Tottenham fans before Joseon Mourinho was sacked six days earlier, and came off in a slightly more daring style.
Against Citi, however, Mason’s allegations found it impossible to get out of his own half in the opening 45 minutes, as Lloris wasted time within half an hour to relieve his teammates.
Spurs improved as the game progressed, but Guardiola on Wednesday used Pochettino’s clash against PSG as a test of the game.
The City bosses went with a similar fluid system that worked so well against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabégé just over a year ago, this time with De Bruyne and Foden having to bend to fill the striker’s position because Tottenham Failed to defeat the press.
PSG are, of course, better players. And Guardiola will hope that his defenders can handle Neymar and Qian Mabappé better than they did with Lucas.
But it is suggested to celebrate with fans the whole time that they will not worry about it until Monday morning.
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