Following today’s clash between Arsenal and Manchester City, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Arsenal hosted Manchester City at Wembley Stadium for a 4.30pm kick off in the League Cup Final on Sunday February 25, with Pep Guardiola’s side lifting their first trophy under his charge.
Sergio Aguero gave them the lead in the 18th minute, and goals from Vincent Kompany and David Silva tied the victory up as this year’s competition came to a close with a three nil win.
Guardiola lifts his first League Cup, but the trophy continues to elude Arsene Wenger given his 21 years at Arsenal as he suffers is third Cup Final defeat.
Teams:
Arsenal:
Ospina, Chambers (Welbeck 65), Mustafi, Koscielny, Bellerin, Ramsey (Iwobi 73), Xhaka, Monreal (Kolasinac 26), Ozil, Wilshere, Aubameyang.
Substitutes:
Mertesacker, Maitland-Niles, Cech, El Neny.
Man City:
Bravo, Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Danilo, Fernandinho (Bernardo Silva 52), Gundogan, De Bruyne, Silva, Sane (Jesus 77), Aguero (Foden 89).
Substitutes:
Stones, Laporte, Ederson, Zinchenko.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Craig Pawson blew the final whistle, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explained.
‘I felt the game, we had the first good chance, a very easy one that we missed. After that we made a big mistake for their first goal. But we controlled them pretty well in the first half, but they came out in the second half, and we were unlucky because the second goal was offside. But congratulations to Man City, they deserve the win. You have to accept being criticised when you lose games. But I believe we have to recover quickly. We got to the final, we lost, so now we have to focus on the next Premier League game.’
Adding.
‘When you lose 3-0 of course you have to look at defending better, but I still feel like for large periods we defended well, but we lost concentration sometimes and against good teams you pay for it. It’s not the application that was missed it was the concentration at key periods that was missed. The second goal was a big goal in this game and for me, it was 100 per cent offside. We analyse all the games in a very mathematical way, we didn’t give too many chances away, but we gave away easy chances, and didn’t create enough for ourselves.’
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in his comparative interview explained.
‘It’s important. We’re so happy, and a big congratulations to all of Manchester City, and our fans. This trophy is for Manchester City and not for me. The first half we were not good, there were a lot of mistakes, in the second half we played with a lot more courage and personality – we were outstanding.’
He went on to say.
‘Football is football, you can’t control everything, it’s football. It was so important to win this one, because we played 10 v 11 for 45 minutes against Wigan so it wasn’t easy. But now we concentrate on the Premier League, where we will try to win the rest of our games, and the Champions League, too.’
