Ever since Pep Guardiola took charge of Manchester City, everyone knew that there were going to be trophies galore for the blue side of Manchester. He opened his account in the 2017/18 season with a fantastic run in the Carabao Cup and won it with relative ease after beating Arsenal 3-0 in his first final with the club. Since then he had made this tournament his forte. Year in and year out, in the last four years, he has managed to make sure that his team brings the trophy back home from the Wembley Stadium. But just like all good things, his success in the Carabao cup also came to an end on Wednesday evening after his side suffered a 3-5 defeat on penalties by the hand of West Ham.
WE MAKE IT THROUGH ON PENALTIES! 💪
COME ON YOU IRONS!#WHUMCI pic.twitter.com/xOKjN5uW6q
— West Ham United (@WestHam) October 27, 2021
Guardiola’s men were the favorites to pick up the trophy with players like De Bruyne, Gundogan, and Mahrez in their starting lineup. However, West Ham, who had defeated Manchester United, was out for blood and gave a tough competition to the men in blues. Although their on-field players put up an average performance, it was Areola their goalkeeper, who made all the difference. He made 7 saves in the 90 minutes out of which 3-4 shots were venomous and had goal written all over it. Still, the Frenchman showed some great grit and determination to keep out the likes of Palmer, De Bruyne, and Sterling.
The result then boiled down to 5 penalties. With everything at stake, Phil Foden stood up to take the first penalty for City and he missed. Both the teams went on to convert all of their remaining Penalties, as a result, Manchester City was knocked out of the Carabao Cup for the first time in 5 years after.
End of an era…
We bow out of the Carabao Cup#ManCity pic.twitter.com/Mok1YKdyW4
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 27, 2021
