https://www.sportinglife.com/-Manchester City celebrate their Carabao Cup final triumph
Manchester City’s quadruple dream ended with defeat in the FA Cup last four, but they earned their first trophy of the season in the Carabao Cup on Sunday. Will it be the first of three?
Will Manchester City win the FA Cup?
LOST IN SEMI-FINALS
Pep Guardiola last won this trophy in 2018/19, a sixth FA Cup success for the club, but this season carried extra significance with the potential of a quadruple on the cards. Manchester City’s hopes were ended by Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea at the semi-final stage.
Hakim Ziyech’s second-half goal was the difference in a match Chelsea dominated.
A missed opportunity? Chelsea will now face Leicester in the final as heavy favourites.
If City had made it, the quadruple really would have felt on.
Will Manchester City win the Carabao Cup?
This is Manchester City’s competition.
After beating Tottenham 1-0 at Wembley, they’ve now won the Carabao Cup on four straight occasions.
A dominant performance, despite the narrow scoreline, finally led to Aymeric Laporte’s headed goal from a corner 10 minutes from time as City claimed a victory their superiority fully deserved.
The only controversy was that Spurs felt the Frenchman could have been sent off earlier in the game,
It was a joyous occasion for the favourites and also a significant day for the wider game as both clubs had a limited number of fans present at the national stadium.
Will Manchester City win the Premier League?
City have all but won the title. They sit 10 points clear of 66/1 rivals Manchester United in the Premier League table with only five games to play.
Indeed the major positive for City in their current position and given their Carabao Cup win is that they can now afford to focus on the Champions League, and with such a big lead, the rotation available to Guardiola should mean they finish the job in comfortable fashion.
Chelsea and Leicester are the toughest opponents City have left to face in the league this season, making the huge swing that United – who would also need to win every match – require near enough impossible.
Will Manchester City win the Champions League?
This is the big one and, whatever Manchester City do this season, it will be the competition they are judged by.
It’s the one trophy that has evaded City in their quest to become a football superpower but there is a growing belief that their time is finally here.
However, this isn’t the first time we have said that and they have fallen at unexpected stages in previous seasons. The one accusation thrown at Guardiola is that he often overthinks the big games, changing formation and system for one-off ties which has at times backfired.
There were some nervy moments in their quarter-final victory over Dortmund but Guardiola’s men did enough to finally go beyond the last-eight stage of the competition. It was a hurdle that they had consistently failed to overcome but that win may suggest this could be their year.
A concern is a meeting with last season’s runners-up PSG, who knocked holders Bayern Munich out in the last round to claim some kind of revenge for that 2019/20 final defeat.
And how much of a concern will their recent FA Cup semi-final defeat be? They could face Chelsea in an all-English final if they see off Real Madrid.