Pep Guardiola admitted he never believed Manchester City could beat Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final, despite his side's dominant second-half performance securing a 2-0 victory at Wembley. Nico O'Reilly's double, with headers in the 60th and 64th minutes, gave City the season's first trophy and Guardiola's fifth League Cup in his decade at the club.
Guardiola said: 'Not even me gave one pound to the victory today. We could not win against Nottingham Forest home or West Ham away, we lost 5-1 aggregate against Madrid. But the players prove again – the old ones and especially the new ones – that when required to do something during a season in which we have not been consistent, today we achieved it.'
The manager praised his side's second-half performance, saying: 'Especially without the ball and with the ball in the second half, was unbelievably good. I could not believe how unbelievably good we had done in the second half.' He highlighted contributions from goalkeeper James Trafford and young defender Max Alleyne, and noted that winning helps the team flourish.
Guardiola celebrated O'Reilly's second goal by sprinting down the touchline, earning a yellow card after being booked for celebrating the opener. He said: 'If I cannot celebrate against that team with the way we are playing, then when? Emotions are related to the way we are playing. Give me another yellow card, I'm not yet artificial intelligence. I'm a human being and I want to celebrate.'
O'Reilly, who turned 21 on Saturday, said: 'An amazing day. We came out to the second half on top and dominated. We are going to celebrate today and then international break.' Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defended his decision to start Kepa Arrizabalaga, who dropped the ball for O'Reilly's opener, saying he had to be fair to the goalkeeper who played throughout the competition.
