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“Hero”, “You are the man”: Some Manchester City fans thrilled by star man’s shootout winner in exhilarating EFL Cup final win vs Chelsea + Match Report

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Chelsea vs Manchester City Report: Manchester City Match Report

Manchester City beat Chelsea 4-3 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes of action. This crucial final for both sides began with Manchester City’s dominance on the ball as was expected. They moved the ball with some slick passing and were looking threatening right from the off in this game.

Chelsea meanwhile, seemed happy to be sitting in front of the City attack and soaking up the defence for the opening minutes. They were very deep from the start and it looked like they were going to have a lot of defending to do.

City began to create chances down with flank and with the pace of Sterling, they created a good opening for Sergio Aguero but the Argentine who scored a hat-trick against the Blues but a fortnight ago, smashed it over the bar. He then put the ball in the back of the net a few minutes but he was called offside.

Chelsea were slowly allowed to come into the game and as the half wore on, they began to enjoy prolonged spells of possession which they used well. With Eden Hazard in the false-nine role, Willian and Pedro were able to stick to the by-lines and give the Belgian acres of room.

But neither side was able to capitalise on any of the half chances they got. Pep Guardiola seemed frustrated with the play as Manchester City were struggling to break the Blues’ core down despite their admirable attacking wealth.

Even without Higuain, Chelsea were a threat on the counter with Hazard’s pace and he had a chance which was defended by City as well. As the game went into half time, neither team had gained a complete and the scoreline was 0-0.

With the start of the second half, Chelsea began to see much more of the ball and even though City kept on pressing, their dominance was certainly toned down in the 2nd period. Raheem Sterling wasn’t enjoying nearly as much possession down the right side as he did in the first period.

Chelsea then began to push City and Eden Hazard’s brilliant work down the left gave N’Golo Kante a great chance but unfortunately for him, the shot went over the bar and the game stayed at 0-0.

Quite a cagey affair, Chelsea enjoyed more of the ball in the latter stages and the introductions of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek certainly had an extremely positive impact on the encounter as well.

The game went into stoppage time with Fernandinho picking up a knock which meant that City were down to 10 men for the final few minutes having already made three changes. After 90 minutes the score was still 0-0 which meant that the EFL Cup final would go into extra-time.

Even in extra time, Chelsea and City shared possession and despite pressure from both sides, a goal wasn’t to be coming and the additional period ended with a major incident involving Chelsea’s goalkeeper Kepa.

He fell down injured which prompted Maurizio Sarri to bring on Willy Cabalero but despite the board going up announcing the change, Kepa refused to come off the pitch saying that he’s fine which left Sarri absolutely livid. After this incident, the game went into penalties and Kepa was still on the pitch.

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The pressure was on as the game went into the lottery that is a penalty shootout. Misses from Jorginho and David Luiz gave Raheem Sterling to win it for City with their 5th penalty of the night and the speedster made no mistake from the spot to ensure that City’s defence of the EFL Cup was not complete.

Here’s how some overjoyed Manchester City fans reacted to defending the EFL Cup by beating Chelsea in a tight encounter: