Man City Beats Spurs To Win Fourth Consecutive Carabao Cup

Manchester City has won the Carabao Cup for the record-equaling eighth time after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 for the fourth year in a row.

City’s hero was Aymeric Laporte, who headed home Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick in the 82nd minute to give Pep Guardiola’s side a well-deserved victory, bringing us level with Liverpool as the competition’s most successful side.

Guardiola’s men rose to the occasion at Wembley Stadium, where the victory was made all the sweeter by the sight of 2,000 City fans cheering at full-time, the most at any game in England since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although City had to wait for a goal to break the deadlock, the outcome was never in doubt on the balance of play, and the most shocking part of the game was that the defending champions had to wait until the final 10 minutes for a goal.

Guardiola’s side would have been out of reach at halftime if not for some valiant last-ditch defending and some missed opportunities.

Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld both made goal-saving blocks to deny Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden, with the former holding out a leg to deny Sterling after good work down the left from Foden, who later saw his shot turned into the post by the Belgian after De Bruyne’s cross dropped kindly for him in the six-yard box.

Spurs held off a barrage of attacks in the first half, with a Sterling chip bouncing agonizingly wide and Riyad Mahrez coming close twice with trademark curling attempts.

Ryan Mason’s side provided a sterner test after the break, but it was not enough to turn the tide.

Giovani Lo Celso forced Zack Steffen into his only save shortly after the restart and, whilst they made life more difficult for City in attack, that solitary effort was as good as it got for the North London outfit.

City, however, continued to probe, with Fernandinho’s header forcing a save from Lloris and Gundogan sending one of his own over the bar, whilst a weaving run and shot from Mahrez forced a smart save from the Frenchman.

As the clock ticked down, the boys in blue could have been forgiven for thinking all this would come back to haunt them, but our patience was rewarded in emphatic style as Laporte towered above Moussa Sissoko and planted a header into the far corner to spark wild celebrations at the City end.