Manchester City win England’s League Cup

The Reds were floored 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out at Wembley after Philippe Coutinho’s late strike cancelled out Fernandinho’s opener and forced the fixture into extra-time on Sunday evening. It was impossible for Willy Caballero not to play tonight. “I’m very happy for Willy Caballero, I think he deserved his moment”.

“My intuition helped me”, Caballero told Sky Sports. Toure slotted the decisive penalty into the corner to seal a 3-1 shootout win and became the man for the big occasion again, having scored in both of City’s FA Cup and League Cup final victories in recent years.

“If you asked how I would prefer to win, I would have preferred to win it this way”, the City boss said.

“He was the hero of the day”, he said.

“But I think we deserved to win the game with less work from Willy because he did not have a save to make in the first 90 minutes”.

“After all it feels very good – the emotion”.

It is, however, becoming a familiar feeling for Klopp, who has now lost four consecutive cup finals dating back to former club Borussia Dortmund’s 2013 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich at the same stadium.

“It was really important that we won this trophy, for the team and for myself”.

The win gives Manuel Pellegrini his third major trophy in as many seasons at City, three months before he is replaced by Pep Guardiola.

It was a stark contrast to a week earlier when he was part of a second-string City side thrashed 5-1 by Chelsea in the FA Cup, after which local media demanded that Hart take over between the posts for the Wembley showpiece. His team is still in the hunt for the Premier League title despite being nine points behind leader Leicester, and has a game in hand.

For Liverpool, it was a bitter disappointment in Jurgen Klopp’s first season in charge, with only the Europa League, where it plays Manchester United in the last 16, offering any hope of silverware. That decision has since been vindicated after the penalty save heroics from the Argentine shot stopper. But if we carry on working really hard there is light at the end of the tunnel.

While City is enjoying the most successful period in its history, Liverpool is experiencing one of its most barren runs ever.

It was City’s second League Cup title in three years. It had won its previous five.

The first ended scoreless but it was not short of intriguing moments. The British press were very creative with their headlines and pounced on the fact that the British currency and Raheems last name were the same.

And those misses proved costly as, in the 82nd minute, Coutinho equalised when he followed in after substitute Adam Lallana hit the post from two yards out.

The Merseysiders scrapped their way back into the encounter, though, with seven minutes of normal time remaining as Philippe Coutinho pounced on a rebound to drill the ball low into the net and force extra time.

Caballero’s day would not end with that save.