Despite the surprising opening goal from Fabio Borini, Sunderland couldn’t hold back Manchester City from winning the 2014 League Cup with a comeback started by a beautiful Yaya Toure goal, carried on by a sublime finish from Samir Nasri and a perfect counter attack finish by Jesus Navas to make it a 3-1 victory.
Manuel Pellegrini picks up his first trophy in Europe, and also becomes the first South American manager to lift the League Cup trophy in England. Manchester City seemed reserved and held back in the first half, as some very good defending from Sunderland and especially from Ki Sung-Yueng, marking Yaya Toure perfectly, denying him any chance to create for City.
Fabio Borini beat Vincent Kompany to a long ball and showed just how much he has improved this season as a loanee from Liverpool, providing a perfect finish in a one on one with Pantilimon. A few minutes later, Borini had a second opportunity to provide his knife in the teeth celebration, but missed in front of goal with the Romanian goalkeeper providing a crucial save.
Manchester City continued to struggle creating chances except for an early one in the first half, but the halftime break did them a world of good. Yaya Toure moved a bit forward and managed to escape Ki, which resulted in one of the best goals we’ve seen this season, as Toure sent a beatiful long range curler above Vito Mannone, who wasn’t standing perfectly as well.
The energy rippled through the Manchester City players, resulting in a fantastic counter attack, and a deflected pass Aleksandar Kolarov provided to the middle, reaching Samir Nasri, taking a shot from the edge of the box with the outside of his boot to put City in front with another fantastic finish.
Sunderland had their chances with some long range shots and another big opportunity for Steven Fletcher, but as they neglected their defensive stands Manchester City added a third goal, with Jesus Navas scoring in the 90th minute after a counter attack led by Yaya Toure.
This is the third title in the new Manchester City era and although it’s not the most prestigious of the four they’re up four, this might provide them a very big boost, at least when it comes to morale and confidence, to try and win at least one more, most importantly in the league.