(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Both Ahmed Elmohamady and Mahmoud Trezeguet featured as Manchester City edged Aston Villa 2-1 to be crowned as EFL Cup Champions.
The Citizens controlled the early stages of the game as they maintained plenty of position. They managed to translate their domination in the 20th minute, when Sergio Aguero made it 1-0 as he converted Philip Foden’s headed assist into the back of Orjan Nyland’s net.
Around 10 minutes later, Rodri Hernandez doubled the lead for the Citizens. The midfielder finished Ikay Gundogan’s accurate cross with a powerful header.
Mbwana Samatta pulled one back for the Villans in the 41st minute, when Anwar El-Ghazi’s cross was met by the Tanzanian, whose composed header left Claudio Bravo helpless.
The Manchester side continued to dominate position in the second half, but failed to create real threats on goal.
Around the 70-minute mark, Elmohamady’s day came to an end as he was replaced by Trezeguet.
The Villans pushed for the equaliser and in the dying moments of the game they wasted a glorious chance to level things up as Bjorn Engels’ header cannoned off the woodwork after a brilliant touch from Bravo.
Villa failed to equalize until the referee blew the fulltime whistle, announcing Manchester City as EFL Cup Champions for the third successive season.
