London (AFP)
Manchester City won the first trophy of the season in England by winning its third consecutive League Cup on Sunday against Aston Villa (2-1).
In a season marked by the almost inevitable loss of the title of champion and their exclusion from the European Cups for 2 years for violation of the rules of financial fair play, the Citizens did not miss their chance to bring some joy in the hearts of their supporters.
The match will however leave an ambivalent impression.
City's superiority was unquestionable, but his second goal - ultimately decisive - was scored on a corner that was pointless and Villa came close to equalizing in the last minutes, with a header from Bjorn Engels pushed back by Claudio Bravo on his post (88th).
Despite the valor of their defenders who have thrown themselves many times to counter the strikes at mid-distance from their opponents, despite the elegance of their playmaker Jack Grealish, the Villans, 19th 2 points from the first non-relegation, will now have to refocus on the struggle for maintenance.
Pep Guardiola was a little surprised with his starting lineup, starting young Phil Foden while Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez were on the bench at kick-off.
The young (19 years old) and very promising attacking midfielder justified the confidence of his coach, showing himself very available and very fair in his movements as in the precision and the timing of his passes.
Deprived of Aymeric Laporte, again injured, Guardiola had also preferred to take Fernandinho down a notch rather than align Nicolas Otamendi alongside John Stones, a duo who lost City some precious points this season.
- Hunger for unfulfilled titles -
The goal of the reduction of the score by the club of Birmingham comes besides to support this distrust vis-à-vis its players.
The English international defender tangled up the brushes in his withdrawal, leaving Anouar el-Ghazi to spin along the sidelines and center for Mbwana Samatta. The powerful diving head of the first Tanzanian in the Premier League left Claudio Bravo (2-1, 41st) with no chance.
Fortunately for City, the attackers had done the work before that.
Sergio Agüero had shown great skill in retaking a header from Foden and opening the scoring in the 20th (1-0), before Rodri scored with a non-existent corner as Ilkay Gündogan touched up the ball after the tackle from Grealish (2-0, 30th).
Thanks to this success, the Citizens are approaching the victory record in the event with 7 wins against 8 for Liverpool, which is also the only team to have lifted the trophy 4 times in succession between 1981 and 1984.
They mainly won their 11th major domestic title - championship, League Cup and English Cup, to which we could add three Community Shields, the pre-season match between the champion and the Cup winner - since the finish Emiratis at the head of the club 12 years ago.
And their thirst for glory is undoubtedly still far from being satisfied: they can always hope to raise the FA and, who knows, for the first time in their history, the Champions League, this season.
© 2020 AFP