There was a time when the old trophy with the three handles felt like the personal property of Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager won the League Cup for the first time in 2018, beating Arsenal in the final, and he repeated the trick in each of the next three seasons.
The ensuing years in the competition have been less kind to Guardiola and the club but here was the riposte. On so many levels. City had entered this final as underdogs; an unusual position but a reflection of their recent wobbles and how Arsenal have been the pre-eminent team in England and Europe so far this season.
It was a day when City reasserted themselves, showing all of the old knowhow and ability; that quintessential calm and cohesion on the ball. And Arsenal simply wilted. Guardiola got the balance of his lineup absolutely right and, after City had shaded a cagey first half, they cut loose.
It is not every season that a left-back is the goalscoring hero of a cup final but that was how it played out, Nico O’Reilly enjoying the finest day of his young career. The 21-year-old scored with a pair of headers, the first after a horrible handling error from the Arsenal reserve goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose misery in Wembley cup finals went on. Thereafter, it was just a countdown to the 16th major trophy of Guardiola’s City tenure – excluding Community Shields.
