Pep praises captain Kompany’s incredible timing
MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola hailed the influence of captain Vincent Kompany after the Belgian kept the destination of the Premier League title in their own hands with a stunning goal in his side’s 1-0 win over Leicester on Monday.
Kompany fired in an unstoppable shot from around 25 yards (23m) to leave City one point clear of Liverpool going into the final day of the season.
“Kompany has been here more than 10 years and he has helped with an incredible generation of players,” Guardiola said.
“With other players like (Joe) Hart and (Pablo) Zabaleta, they created this club. Vincent when he stepped forward in the big moments. When he is fit is an incredible player.”
Guardiola said he had been thinking Kompany should not shoot when he strolled forward with 20 minutes to go. But the defender rifled the ball into the top corner to win it for champions City and keep them in charge.
“An extraordinary goal, definitely,” he said.
The defending champions City play at Brighton on Sunday while Liverpool host Wolves.
Guardiola said there was still work to do. “One game left it will be so tough like today, we are away and we saw Brighton had a good game at Arsenal,” he said.
“But it is in our hands, don’t forget but we could have been 10 points behind if we lost to Liverpool here,” he added in reference to a crucial 2-1 victory in January.
“We were seven points behind, but we are in the last game and it is in our hands. We are going to prepare well.”