[ 2014-03-03 ]

Man City win Capital One Cup final at Wembley
Manchester City fought off the ghosts of last
year’s FA Cup final defeat, responding
marvellously to Manuel Pellegrini’s quietly
inspiring words at the interval to win the Capital
One Cup with a second-half display of power going
forward and precision in front of goal.

City were deservedly trailing at the break,
failing to match the hunger of Gus Poyet’s
gutsy, well-organised Sunderland, and being caught
out by Fabio Borini’s goal. When his
under-performing players had assembled in the
dressing-room, Pellegrini told them they had “45
minutes to change the score”, adding they had to
“be calm and patient and trust in what you
do”.

City’s manager admitted that “maybe last year
worked in their minds in the first half”.
Banishing the spectre of another Wembley defeat,
City were transformed, playing with the urgency so
painfully lacking in the first period. City fans
responded to the raised tempo, exhorting their
players on and celebrating wildly three
astonishing strikes, first from Yaya Touré, then
Samir Nasri and finally Jesús Navas.

Overall, it was a fair result. City were
phenomenal in the second half, blowing Sunderland
away with their power on the break and the
devastating nature of their finishing. Touré was
outstanding through the middle, Nasri was voted
man of the match and Vincent Kompany was a true
leader.

Having collected the cup, Kompany walked across
the pitch to the parade stand in front of the fans
and photographers. As Hey Jude flowed from the
giant speakers, the fans tweaking the words to
“City”, Kompany placed the silverware gently
on the podium, rearranging the ribbons with all
the attention to detail of a window-display expert
in Hatton Garden.

Source - The Telegraph

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