JOY FOR CITY IN FINAL
Guardiola hits bottle as his side sink Villa
PEP GUARDIOLA said li lifting the Carabao Cup fo for the third year in a ro row was “awesome”.
The Manchester City boss swigged champagne on the Wembley W pitch after seeing his side overcome Aston Villa.
“Three times in a row is a big success,” said Guardiola. “It’s the consistency. It’s incredible. It was awesome.”
Sergio Aguero and Rodri fired City into a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes before Villa pulled one back through striker Ally Samatta
following a John Stones slip to leave Guardiola’s men hanging on.
Claudio Bravo tipped a Bjorn Engels header onto the post in the final minutes to ensure City landed eight of the last nine domestic trophies.
But Guardiola will refuse to get a tattoo of a stadium where he has had so much success.
He said: “We struggled in the first few minutes and the last ones.
“They had two clear chances in the first minutes but we played really well, especially in the second half.
“We’ve won a lot. Every game we play we try to win it, every competition we try to win it. Three times in a row, being here and winning is great
'We have another trophy in our club. We've won eight titles now, so it's a lot. But it's not just about me.
"I love the old Wembley and the new Wembley. But my body doesn't accept tattoos - I'm not strong enough."
Only Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho have won this competition more often than the Spaniard. He has now claimed 29 trophies in 11 seasons as a boss, including eight at Wembley.
Raheem Sterling said he will not get bored of winning trophies.
"I can never get enough of it. It was good. I thought we made it difficult for ourselves at times but we've done the job and we were professional," he said.
City face Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday and head into the second leg of the Champions League clash with Real Madrid with a 2-1 lead.
Sterling added: “We’re fully focused and ready to do the business.”
Man of the match Phil Foden only found out he was playing 24 hours before kick-off.
“The day before, the manager was working on tactics – I couldn’t wait to play. It was unbelievable,” he said.
Villa boss Dean Smith told his side if they play like that for the rest of the season, they won’t be relegated. He said: “Everybody wrote us off. I think we were 18-1 to win but I knew those odds weren’t right.
“I could see it in their eyes and their body language that they wanted to prove people wrong. We went toe-totoe with a side who are not just one of the best in Europe, but in the world.
“Bravo pulled out a great save to stop it going to extra-time. We asked City questions.
“Premier League safety is the priority now.”