nico o'reilly

Nico O'Reilly double gives Manchester City Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal


Nico O'Reilly scored twice to stun Arsenal and clinch the Carabao Cup for Manchester City, who deservedly won 2-0 at Wembley.

The City full-back capitalised on a huge error from Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa, chosen ahead of first-choice David Raya having played in every previous round, tapping in on the goal-line after 60 minutes when the Spaniard let a cross slip through his grasp.

O'Reilly then headed home four minutes later before Pep Guardiola's side comfortably saw out victory to win the trophy for the fifth time in his 10-year reign.

For Arsenal, defeat ends their hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple and means they miss the chance to win a first major trophy since 2020 and first League Cup since 1993.

While Mikel Arteta's decision to select Kepa proved costly and will undoubtedly receive much attention, ultimately this was a final Manchester City and Guardiola thoroughly deserved to win.

With questions over his future and desire to remain at The Etihad at an all-time high, plenty suggesting he has fallen behind the modern game, Guardiola provided a stark reminder of why he will go down as the greatest of all time.

Helped by having multiple serial winners in his XI, Guardiola's tactical plan dominated the Gunners from the off, with Arsenal failing to muster a chance of significance until they had fallen 2-0 down.

The Gunners must now dust themselves down and focus on securing the Premier League title before trying to add the Champions League and FA Cup, avoiding the loss of momentum Liverpool suffered with a similarly comprehensive defeat by Newcastle 12 months ago.

For City, and more importantly Guardiola, it proved they are far from done just yet.


More from Sporting Life

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.