LONDON // Penalty shoot-outs, by their very nature, are always likely to produce heroes.
It is a cruel way to lose and an exhilarating way to win. At Wembley Stadium on Sunday, the much-maligned Willy Caballero hit back at his critics to help Manchester City defeat Liverpool on spot kicks to win the League Cup for the fourth time.
Much of the talk in the run-up to the game had centred on who City manager Manuel Pellegrini would start in goal.
Caballero had begun all five of City’s previous encounters in the competition, but a calamitous performance in the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea last weekend led to many calls for the first-choice Joe Hart to be selected instead.
Pellegrini kept faith in the Argentine, though, and was rewarded by some terrific goalkeeping in the battle from 12 yards.
Two superb stops, from Lucas Leiva and Adam Lallana, as well as another save to keep out Philippe Coutinho’s tame effort, made the difference. Simon Mignolet, who had himself been on the receiving end of some reproval both before and during Sunday’s showpiece, could only watch on as his opposite number took the glory.
In the end, it was probably a deserved outcome: City had the best chances throughout the match and should probably have wrapped up the victory long before the match was decided by penalties.
It was a game that took a while to get going as both sides struggled to find their rhythm in the opening stages. The only clear-cut opportunity of the first half fell to Sergio Aguero, whose drive towards the far corner was brilliantly pushed onto the post by Mignolet.
Richard Jolly: 'I have come up quick': Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho now Man City's indispensable Plan B
It was the first moment of attacking quality from either team, the only time either had fashioned an opening with a fine piece of football.
If the first period was a rather subdued affair, things livened up almost immediately after the interval, Fernandinho giving City the lead just over three minutes after the restart.
His deployment on the right of midfield was likely a ploy to help City contain the attacking threat of Alberto Moreno. The Brazilian did far more than just stifle his direct opponent, however, taking advantage of Moreno’s advanced position to surge forwards and fire a shot past Mignolet, who really should have done better. The groans from the Liverpool supporters when the goal was replayed on the big screen showed exactly what they thought of their Belgian keeper’s efforts to deny the all-action midfielder.
City continued to take advantage of the space vacated by Moreno thereafter, Raheem Sterling inexplicably scuffing the ball wide from just a few yards out after David Silva’s pass from the right had put it on a plate for him.
Aguero was then denied a penalty after cutting in from the same side and going down under Moreno’s careless challenge, while another breakaway down that flank brought City a free kick just outside the area.
Liverpool had a few promising moments of their own but could not find a way past Caballero, who cut a far calmer and more assured figure than the nervous-looking one that had kept goal in the aforementioned loss at Chelsea.
Failing to add a second came back to haunt Pellegrini’s charges late on in regulation time, Philippe Coutinho grabbing the equaliser after Adam Lallana had hit the woodwork from close range. Second best for much of the half, Liverpool suddenly surged forward in search of a winner.
Both teams came close to getting it in an open 30 minutes of extra time, Mignolet making amends for his earlier error by palming away Aguero’s outside-of-the-boot dink and Caballero doing well to keep out Divock Origi’s header.
The City custodian’s most significant interventions were still to come, however. Mignolet would have been desperate to fully redeem himself in the shoot-out, but it was not to be. Caballero, after a week of jibes and criticism, made himself the hero.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
