Vincent Kompany lifts the trophy to a huge roar. It might kickstart a title challenge as well. A week ago, Pellegrini was slaughtered for the entirely understandable decision to rest players at Chelsea. Since then they have won in Kiev and beating Liverpool in the final. A great seven days for Pellegrini, and an even better seven days for Willy Caballero.
Thanks for your company, night!
The Willy Caballero story is a feelgood classic, but you have to feel for Liverpool – especially Lucas, who played magnificently at centre-half against the great Sergio Aguero.
In penalty shoot-outs, whichever keeper makes the decisive save or saves is the hero – even if those penalties are poor. This time, most of Liverpool’s penalties were excellent and the saves from Lucas and Lallana were outstanding.
Seven days ago, Caballero had a shocker at Chelsea. Pellegrini was ridiculed by pretty much everyone for picking him today, and now he will be forever associated with City winning the 2016 Capital One Cup.
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Toure dragged another excellent penalty into the bottom corner, and the entire City squad run straight to Willy Caballero. He made three saves in the penalty shoot-out, two of them absolutely magnificent.
He didn’t even know City had won! He was walking over for the next penalty when he realised the entire team were charging towards him.
MANCHESTER CITY WIN THE CAPITAL ONE CUP!
Toure scores!
City are one kick away from winning the League Cup. It’ll be taken by Yaya Toure.
CABALLERO SAVES FROM LALLANA! Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City
This is another sensational save from Caballero, beating it away one-handed at full stretch to his right!
AGUERO SCORES! Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City
A class penalty, straight into the bottom-left corner. Mignolet went the right way for the third time but couldn’t get there.
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COUTINHO MISSES! Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
Caballero saves again! Coutinho did an Aldridge-style stop, and then took a poor penalty that Caballero saved to his left.
NAVAS SCORES! Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
Mignolet went the right way but it was very precise in the bottom-left corner.
CABALLERO SAVES FROM LUCAS! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City
A brilliant save, diving high to his left!
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FERNANDINHO HITS THE POST! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City
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CAN SCORES: Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City
Emre Can, who missed in the semis, scores a Panenka!
Liverpool will go first, which is an obvious advantage.
After 120 minutes, it all comes down to this: Caballero v Mignolet.
Jurgen Klopp is smiling. He looks calm, relaxed, and must be a late contender for tonight’s Best Actor award.
But then City will always have 1999
Liverpool have won their last three trophies on penalties – the Champions League in 2005, the FA Cup in 2006 and the League Cup in 2012. Their overall record in penalty competitions is scary: W14 L3.
Full time: Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
Penalties.
ET 30+1 min One last corner for City – and Fernandinho heads tamely wide from 10 yards. Bony was in a better position behind him.
ET 30 min Lucas heads Toure’s free-kick behind for a corner, which is headed away. Lucas has been heroic.
ET 29 min Fernandinho is finally booked. Actually, it may have been him rather than Toure who was booked after the Lallana incident.
ET 28 min Here’s some exclusive footage of Lucas in action today.
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ET 27 min Lallana lost it after a tackle from Yaya Toure – and rightly so, as Toure went over the ball and should have been sent off. Lallana then went for Toure, and had to be held back as he started shaking. Toure look down at him with a kind of quizzical amusement, a bit like when Wilshere headbutted Fellaini. Both were booked.
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It’s kicking off!
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ET 25 min Navas’s dangerous low cross is calmly intercepted by Lucas, doing a passable impersonation of Franco Baresi.
“I think Daniel Sturridge missed in his last penalty shoot out at Wembley,” says Niall Mullen. “It was in the Olympics. He got dog’s abuse on Twitter for not being as good as the rowers and whatnot. This would definitely be no chance at all to atone for that. Primarily as most of the Olympic audience have reverted to not watching sport in any form.”
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ET 24 min Yaya Toure is moving gingerly, and City have used all three substitutes.
ET 23 min Navas tries to find Zabaleta on the right of the box, and Lucas concedes a corner with a storming man-and-ball challenge. He has arguably been the man of the match.
ET 22 min I can’t keep up with this. Milner’s abysmal back header goes straight to Aguero, who lobs high over the bar on the stretch.
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ET 21 min Milner’s seductive inswinging cross from the left is this far from the outstretched right foot of Origi. City put on Navas to get at Milner but it has been the other way round. Miler’s playing like Paul bloody Breitner!
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ET 20 min City make their final substitution, with Bony replacing Silva. Caballero makes a comfortable save from Sturridge’s free-kick. The save from Origi was a dramatic one, though Origi will probably feel his header was too close to the centre of the goal.
ET 19 min Caballero makes a vital save from Origi’s header! Milner stood up a cross from the left towards the head of Origi, who thumped it towards goal from six yards. Caballero, who was going the other way across his line, dived back to his right to beat it away. Moments later, Otamendi is booked for mistaking a Liverpool player for an old sock and hoofing him up in the air.
ET 18 min Oof, that was a chance for Liverpool. Origi, on the right touchline, floated an inviting cross towards the head of Sturridge – but Lallana got in his way and the chance passed.
ET 16 min Liverpool begin the final period of extra time. Let’s be clear: there are final periods and final periods. Which will this turn out to be?
Today on Guardian pubvertising, we have this from David Mowbray. “From a pubs point of view this extra time........and hopefully penalties is golden ! We pay almost £1000 a month to show the footy and this helps tremendously ;-) Colliers Arms, Chadderton, Oldham.”
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Half time in extra time: Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
Fifteen minutes to penalties.
ET 15 min This is a brilliant save from Mignolet. Aguero zoomed through a tired defence onto a return pass from Silva and flicked the ball across goal with the outside of his right foot. Mignolet had scarcely any reaction time but threw out his left hand to make the best save of the match.
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ET 14 min Navas and Zabaleta haven’t really been able to exploit the presence of Milner at left-back, at least not yet.
ET 13 min Lallana’s booming deep corner leads to a mini-scramble before an overzealous Kolo Toure is given offside.
ET 12 min Origi wafts a long-range shot in the direction of Brent Cross IKEA.
ET 11 min A corner to City on the left. It goes out to Toure on the right, whose fierce cross is well held by Mignolet.
ET 9 min Liverpool have been slightly sharper in the first period of extra time, but it’s all irrelevant: everyone knows it’s going to penalties.
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ET 6 min Fernandinho commits his 94th foul without being booked, this time on Lallana.
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ET 4 min Liverpool’s record in penalty shoot-outs is spectacular – 14 wins out of 17 I think, including two League Cup finals – so City might be well advised to do the necessary in extra-time.
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ET 3 min “If this game stopped right now and everyone just went home do you think anyone would care?” chirps Paul Jaines. “It really is the most meaningless competition that gets in the way of a decent Sunday lunch.”
What time do you have your Sunday lunch?
ET 1 min City kick off from right to left.
City are making two substitutions for extra-time, with Pablo Zabaleta and Jesus Navas replacing Bacary Sagna and Fernando.
If this goes to penalties, Caballero or Mignolet will end the day as a hero. Imagine.
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“I’m not a doctor,” says Simon McMahon, “but I think Matt Dony might be concussed. Deep breaths.”
Full time: Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
After a tedious first half and a thrilling second, the Capital One Cup final will go to extra time. No way I’ll make it home for Countryfile now.
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90+1 min Yaya Toure, who did nothing for 83 minutes, must have been particularly affronted by that Coutinho goal because since then he has lorded over the game like a colossus.
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90 min There will be four minutes of added time. The game has been ragged since the equaliser.
89 min ... Toure makes a mess of a great headed chance, and then has his follow up shot blocked brilliantly by Mignolet!
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89 min An outstanding through pass from Toure is miscontrolled by Silva, of all people. He would have been through on goal. It kicked up awkwardly and seemed to hit his arm, though Michael Oliver allowed play to go on and City won a corner. From which....
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87 min Now Kompany is booked. This game is crazily open, and Henderson’s mishit shot deflects off Coutinho and is saved by Caballero. It was a comfortable save, but had Sturridge also diverted the ball – and he might have done – then Caballero would have been in trouble.
86 min A crucial save from Mignolet! A cross from the left was pulled down smartly by Fernando, who then flicked a shot towards goal from eight yards. It was too close to Mignolet, however, and he was able to beat the shot away.
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85 min Coutinho was booked for taking his shirt off, and now Can has been booked for a sliding foul on someone or other.
The goal was scruffy in its conception but Liverpool won’t care. Sterling couldn’t clear the ball and it broke to Sturridge on the right of the box. He drilled it low across goal and beyond the far post, where Lallana’s shot hit the face of the post. It rebounded to Coutinho, who hammered it into the net from 12 yards.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City (Coutinho 83)
Liverpool have equalised!
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81 min Jurgen Klopp makes his last substitution, with Divock Origi replacing Roberto Firmino.
80 min Sterling misses another chance. This one wasn’t as clear as the first but he should probably have scored. Aguero slipped Milner and Lucas on the right with some lovely skill before cutting the ball back for Sterling, who mishit a bobbling shot wide of the far post from 15 yards.
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77 min Sturridge plays a fine angled pass to find Milner in loads of space on the left side of the box, but Milner’s indecision allows City defenders to shuffle over and eventually his low cross is cleared.
77 min “Sturridge just tried (and failed) to pick up ball on the center stripe,” says Rick McGahey. “Says it all on attack.”
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76 min Fernando is booked for dragging Lallana over.
75 min Liverpool haven’t had a shot on target. That’s a crime at the best of times, even more so when you’re Willy Caballero is in goal.
73 min Milner has gone to left-back I think. Liverpool are really struggling at the moment.
72 min It’s Lallana for Alberto Moreno. Sound the tactical reshuffle klaxon!
71 min Adam Lallana is getting ready to come on. Liverpool have a corner.
Liverpool no longer have a corner. It amounted to nothing.
70 min “Unfortunately there is no quick way to assess how serious a head injury is,” says Dr Colum Farrelly. “It often takes hours before the signs of damage inside the skull become evident, even to the best of doctors. So the absence of signs means nothing. In the interim, the victim feels and looks normal but all the time the trouble is brewing. And if such a victim continues to play sport, (say heading a football) he is likely to make it worse.
“Classic examples include the Irish hurling player who gets a bit of a knock on the side of the head, plays on but is found dead in his bed the next morning. But it seems sensible to consider that an injury bad enough to cause immediate signs such as confusion, double vision, loss of conciousness (knockout) and so on be taken to indicate that serious consequences may ensue, so off the field you go. Even if you don’t want to, or think that’s being soft.”
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69 min Aguero forces a good plunging save from Mignolet with a rasping left-footed shot from 20 yards. City have been in control since the goal.
68 min “I spend a sizeable portion of my time apologising for assorted ills,” says Matt Dony. “Niall, I’m sorry. I’m really, really not dealing with this well.”
66 min Silva curls the free-kick a few yards over the bar.
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65 min Moreno is penalised this time for fouling Fernandinho just outside the box. He’s booked as well.
64 min This game is very open now. Liverpool are attacking desperately – perhaps a bit too desperately, because they are only one down with 25 minutes to go but are leaving themselves so exposed at the back. Who do think they are, Danish Dynamite?
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62 min Aguero has a big penalty shout turned down by Michael Oliver. City broke again, with Aguero running from inside his own half onto a long pass. He came back inside Moreno, who dangled a leg behind his back and seemed to trip Aguero. That said, it’s not entirely clear whether Aguero dragged his leg into Moreno’s before falling over. At first I thought it was a clear penalty, though I’m not quite so sure now.
60 min What a miss from Sterling! Madon, that was shocking. City broke through Toure and then Silva, whose deflected low cross came to Sterling. He was six yards out, Mignolet had already committed himself towards the far post, and Sterling contrived to pass the ball wide of the near post.
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56 min That’s much better from Liverpool. A neat, short-passing move ends with Sturridge stabbing the ball through for Milner, who makes a fine angled run from right to left but then screws his shot wide of the near post from the corner of the six-yard box.
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54 min Mignolet should have saved that shot, but I would say one thing in his defence: football is the winner it was hard and low, right at his feet, the sort of shot that a playground keeper just hoofs away before carrying on with his sneaky fag. Proper goalkeepers, of course, try to get down with their hands and the result is often that it goes through them and into the net.
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53 min Liverpool look a bit rattled, and Clyne is booked for a poor tackle on Sterling.
52 min “Can Matt Dony please apologise?” sniffs Niall Mullen.
Aguero received another long pass on the edge of the box, and waited and waited while Fernandinho galloped past him on the outside. Aguero slipped it into the space in front of Fernandinho, who rifled a low shot towards goal from a tight angle on the right of the box. It looked a routine save, but it went straight through Mignolet and into the far corner.
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Manchester City (Fernandinho 49)
In a surprising development, there’s been a goalkeeping error in a match involving Simon Mignolet and Willy Caballero.
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49 min Silva sprays a long angled pass to Aguero in the inside-right channel. He heads it into the space in front and then outpaces Lucas, but by the time he gets to the ball the angle is prohibitive and he smashes it high and wide.
48 min “My humble suggestion for a rule change in football would be the introduction of a “medical substitution” that could be issued by an impartial medical expert on the sideline,” says Paul Done. “If the expert decides that the player can’t continue because of a possible concussion, the team would be forced to replace the player but the sub wouldn’t count against their standard three allowed. In the long run, it’s imperative that these decisions be taken away from the player and team.”
47 min “Reaching our generations, releasing into the nations,” begins Matt Dony. “Is that a Muse lyric? I’m definitely going to be shouting that at the next game I attend. On topic, it’s been an awfully long time since Liverpool’s defence made me feel confident, so I’m immune to the worry over Lucas and Toure. I’m just hanging on to the hope that Caballero will do something stupider than Mignolet.”
46 min Peep! City begin the second half, kicking from left to right.
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“The issue is mostly in the substitutes structure of football,” says Kevin Smith of the concussion issue. “I mentioned ice hockey earlier for a reason, they have a protocol (which is far from perfect and not always followed) where impartial medical observers are watching the game and can call for players to go to the quiet room for diagnosis. If the player is deemed to appear okay after some 10min, they can return to the game. Otherwise they would be done for the remainder.
“However, with stoppage time, frequent and unlimited substitutions, and two intermissions rather than one, ice hockey is far more suited to such a protocol than football. Whether there can be an alternative protocol structured within football’s current substitution rules is, frankly, doubtful, as the limits and inability to return the player to the field makes teams/players unwilling to sub for what may or may not be a concussion.”
It does seem clear that it should be left to impartial, dispassionate medical people, but I don’t really know enough the subject to pass comment. So you can read my thoughts on concussion in sport in tomorrow’s Guardian.
Half-time: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester City
D- Must do better.
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44 min “Quick update from Hong Kong – since what else is there to talk about – on shirts,” writes our fashion correspondent Drew Gough. “In addition to one Jordan Henderson shirt, there’s a guy whose shirt reads “Reaching our Generations... ...Releasing into the Nations!” All capitalization and punctuation original.”
I am Jack’s confused sorrow.
43 min The free-kick is dinked into the area by Yaya Toure, and almost breaks to Otamendi. He’s about to shoot when Milner gets his toe to the ball, so Otamendi kicks Milner instead and then goes over in the comedy heap. That was a vital touch from Milner.
42 min Lucas is aggrieved to be penalised for a tackle on Aguero. Quite why, I’m not sure, as it was a bad tackle with both feet off the ground. He should hve been booked.
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41 min Fernando is perhaps lucky not to be booked for an emphatic bodycheck on Coutinho, who had beaten him with a lovely first touch. The game is going nowhere.
40 min “Currently,” says Niall Mullen, “football is not the winner.”
38 min This has been an uneventful rather than a poor half of football. Sterling attempts to address that by winning a corner for City. That’s the first corner of the match, shortly followed by the second. Nothing happens. To be honest if I could have my time again I wouldn’t bother with this entry, but it’s done now so let’s move on.
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36 min “It used to be tacticians but now everyone is an armchair neurologist,” says Niall Mullen. “Concussion isn’t black and white especially when a player doesn’t lose consciousness. Either all head injuries should come off or there’s going to be a necessarily imperfect system given the nature of the diagnosis.”
I just hope that, whatever happens, football is the winner.
34 min The lively Moreno falls over after a tackle from Fernandinho just inside the box. Michael Oliver says not out. I’d like to see that again. City break, and Sterling’s shot from the edge of area is heading towards goal when it hits Silva and goes out for a goal-kick. I suspect Mignolet had it covered. As for the penalty, the Sky summariser Alan Smith reckons it’s a dive. I’m not so sure. It was, at best, pretty clumsy from Fernandinho.
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33 min Moreno plays a crisp pass to Sturridge on the left. He faffs for a good 10 or 15 seconds before falling over. Michael Oliver gives a free-kick, possibly out of sympathy because there didn’t seem to be a foul. The free-kick is laid off to Coutinho, who smashes a swirling cross-shot that goes for a throw-in on the other side of the pitch.
30 min Here’s Kevin Smith. “The jacket covering may have been done by the medical staff, as well as him heading down the tunnel. If he’s suffered a concussion, best thing to do is get him into a dark room, away from the lights and noise, a practice they’ve only recently introduced in ice hockey where concussions (from hits and fights) are far too common. So, respectfully, I don’t think he has ‘done one’ down the tunnel.”
Ah yes, fair point, my apologies. I put two and two together based on his reaction to being substituted, but you are almost certainly right.
28 min “Sakho should never have come back on,” says JR. “I don’t know the exact protocol for head injuries there in England but there’s no way they were followed there. The lack of seriousness with which this subject is treated is absolutely scandalous.”
27 min Firmino makes space cleverly 20 yards out and then, not so cleverly, wallops a shot into orbit.
26 min Liverpool’s centre-back pairing is now Lucas and Kolo Toure. Sakho has done one down the tunnel.
25 min Sakho has been replaced by Kolo Toure. He’s taken the decision about as well as Les Sealey did when the Manchester United physio Jim McGregor tried to sub him during the 1991 League Cup final. He flings his water bottle into the ground, and is now hiding under a jacket, possibly in tears.
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AGUERO HITS THE POST! Sakho is still struggling after that clash of heads, and staggers all over the place when Aguero runs at him and Lucas on the edge of the area. He beats them both and curls a shot that Mignolet, diving low to his left, tips onto the post. That’s a fine save, though Aguero should maybe have done better.
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22 min “Are Liverpool targetting Sagna?” asks Rick McGahey. “Don’t think they’ve played a ball down the right side for the entire match all on the left, maybe hoping to catch Fernandinho upfield?”
Their own left-sided attackers are better as well, as James Milner shows by making a Horlicks of a promising break.
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21 min Sterling, probably the most dangerous player so far, is wrestled to the floor by Henderson. It’s another free kick for City just outside the box on the left. Silva will again take it ... and it’s headed clear.
20 min Breaking news: this game needs a goal.
18 min “GOAL!!! Liverpool 0 Man City 1 (Mignolet OG),” writes Simon McMahon. “Sorry, Matt. I’m trying to help, really I am.”
Back in real life, it’s still 0-0.
17 min Both players are on their feet and are going to play on.
16 min Sakho and Can clash heads while trying to clear a throw-in. That’s pretty nasty, and both look very groggy – Sakho in particular.
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15 min Breaking news for possession-stats fans: it’s literally 50-50 at the moment.
13 min It is too early to say that, as it’s been a pretty breezy start from both sides, albeit without anything resembling a chance.
12 min Is it too early to say this game needs a goal?
9 min “No, Simon,” says Matt Dony, whose noggin has already gone and we’ve only had nine minutes. “A 4-3 wouldn’t be nice. I’m currently visiting my parents, with no Sky Sports (take that, Murdoch!), so I’m relying on this MBM. Which is tense enough as it, without extra time and ridiculous score lines thrown in. A clear winner by half time will ease my nerves, thanks. I’m really not dealing with this well...”
8 min The resulting free-kick is taken by Silva, headed away by Sakho and volleyed into a different postcode by Fernandinho.
7 min Sterling, who is feeling the hate of the Liverpool fans with every touch, is fouled by Clyne just outside the box on the left.
6 min Milner drags the ball back smartly on the edge of the box, setting himself up for a shot that is blocked by Kompany. Liverpool look sharp, and moments later Coutinho’s no-look pass almost puts Clyne clear on goal. It was fractionally overhit.
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4 min Liverpool have had more of the ball thus far. That’s all. Pulitzer please!
“Like yourself, I’m a genuine neutral here,” says Simon McMahon. “Don’t care who wins. But 4-3 AET would be nice, thanks.” You’re welcome.
3 min “Due to time zones and broadcast rights in the Far East, there are evidently only a few pubs showing this game at midnight thirty local time,” writes Drew Gough. “This Hong Kong pub is Liverpudlian, and I’d like to report the smattering of jerseys on show: Coutinho (fair), Firmino (fine), Mignolet (getting confusing), Gerrard (ode?), and Benteke (whooooooops).”
2 min It seems somebody lied to the official Manchester City Twitter feed, because Silva has started behind Aguero, as in Kiev, with Fernandinho playing from the right as a kind of inverted false 6.75.
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34 seconds Moreno’s driven cross from the left of the box is well held by the stretching Caballero.
1 min Michael Oliver blows the whistle to signify the commencement of proceedings, with Liverpool kicking off from left to right.
32 - The last 8 games between Liverpool & Man City (all comps) have produced 32 goals, with both teams finding the net in each match. Party.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 28, 2016
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It’s time for the national anthem, a stirring experience for the English players who are starting the game, all five of them.
The players emerge from the tunnel. “’mon boys!” shouts someone or other. Everyone looks pretty relaxed, almost too relaxed.
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Some gamble from Manuel Pellegrini. Maybe Willy Caballero will prove everyone wrong - but there are times when he's a danger to his own team
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) February 28, 2016
“Yeah, come on, Rob,” says Matt Dony. “We’re all friends here. We can past basic character flaws, such as ‘supporting United’. Which one of these teams would you least hate to see win something?”
I would just hate for football not to get the victory it deserves, Matt.
Meanwhile, in the Premier League ... Marcus Rashford beat Arsenal 3-2, while Spurs came from behind to win 2-1 against Swansea. Read all about it here.
“Come on then, Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Who do you want to win?”
Football, Simon. I just want football to be the winner.
The first nervous breakdown of the day
“The way both of these teams play, this could be 5-0 to either side, or any score in between,” says Matt Dony. “All depends on who turns up and who doesn’t. I know it’s ‘only’ the League Cup, but that uncertainty is both exciting and terrifying. I haven’t been as nervous about a cup game since the 2007 Champions League final. Just hope this one turns out better than that one. (Cue attritional 1-0 win, late Aguero scramble taking the spoils, after a Henderson slip in homage to Stevie.) I’m not dealing with this well, sorry.”
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Hot tactics news
It seems that City will return to their usual 4-2-3-1 shape, with Yaya Toure playing behind Sergio Aguero and David Silva moving back to the right.
TEAM NEWS: The City line-up competing for the #capitalonecup today! #cityatwembley #mcfc pic.twitter.com/kegpOEJ3EQ
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) February 28, 2016
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The teams
Lucas will play in defence for Liverpool, who are unchanged. City make one change, with Willy Caballero replacing Joe Hart in goal.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Mignolet; Clyne, Lucas, Sakho, Moreno; Can, Henderson; Milner, Firmino, Coutinho, Sturridge.
Substitutes: Bogdan, Toure, Benteke, Allen, Lallana, Origi, Flanagan.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1) Caballero; Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy; Fernando, Fernandinho; Silva, Yaya Toure, Sterling; Aguero.
Substitutes: Hart, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Navas, Iheanacho, Bony.
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Past/foreign country department
Here’s Bruce Grobbelaar before the 1984 Milk Cup final.
Preamble
Look, we’re all friends here, so forgive me for speaking frankly: the Capital One Cup is never going to regain the magic of its golden age in the late 1980s. It’s too old, let go, it’s over. But after looking like an endangered competition around the turn of the century, it has found its niche in English football.
It works on two levels, as a means to an end and an end in itself. Many of the best English teams of the last 15 years won this trophy first: Chelsea in 2004-05, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last great Manchester United side a year later, Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City, not to mention Juande Ramos’s all-conquering Spurs.
It’s reasonable to think a win today could have a similar impact on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. But sometimes modern football can suffer from hyperopia. We are so busy looking into the future – and so obsessed with the Premier and Champions Leagues – that the sheer joy of winning a trophy can be lost.
If you keep thinking about tomorrow, then today never registers. This could be the only trophy Klopp ever wins at Liverpool, or the last trophy Pellegrini wins in his career. The apocalypse is due one of these days as well. Today has enormous meaning on its own; the number of happy hangovers in either Liverpool or Manchester tomorrow morning will attest to that.
For the neutrals, there is almost as much to be excited about. This is probably the hardest League Cup final to call since 2003, when Jerzy Dudek’s redemption enabled Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0. That was one of eight wins in this competition, including four in a row from 1981 to 1984. City have won it three times, most recently in a cracking final against Sunderland two years ago. This could be even better.
Kick off, and don’t ask me why, is at 4.30pm.
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