Toure, Nasri Give City League Cup Joy
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Heat stop Ronaldo salvages Magic spell Real point from Madrid derby MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2014 16 18 No limit to Qatari turf ambitions Page 19 LONDON: Manchester City players celebrate after their 3-1 win against Sunderland in the League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium yesterday. — AP Toure, Nasri give City League Cup joy LONDON: Sensational quick-fire goals by Yaya Toure and son’s loss to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final and sets tackles in the middle of the pitch, and a minute later they half, David Silva testing Mannone and Costel Pantilimon Samir Nasri inspired Manchester City to come from them up for a tilt at a domestic treble. rocked City by taking the lead. pushing a long-range Ki Sung-yueng effort over at the behind and beat Sunderland 3-1 in the League Cup final City are six points off the pace in the Premier League Lee Cattermole, starting in place of the cup-tied Liam other end, before Toure equalised with an exquisite at Wembley yesterday. with two games in hand and will face Wigan in the FA Bridcutt, robbed Toure just outside the Sunderland area strike. Sunderland had taken a 10th-minute lead through on- Cup quarter-finals, while they also trail Barcelona 2-0 in and fed Adam Johnson, who lofted a ball down the right With Sunderland camped inside their area, Pablo loan Liverpool striker Fabio Borini and a fine first-half dis- their Champions League last 16 tie. flank for Borini to chase. Zabaleta rolled the ball back to Toure and the giant play left them on course for a first piece of major silver- It was a bittersweet first trip to the new Wembley for Vincent Kompany got to the ball first but the City cap- Ivorian lifted a gloriously nonchalant effort over ware since 1973. Sunderland but they could reflect with pride on a valiant tain’s attempted clearance was blocked by Borini, who Mannone and into the top-left corner from 30 yards. However, City responded in the second half, with display that augurs well for their Premier League relega- cut into the box from the right and deftly found the bot- Sunderland barely had time to draw breath before Toure lobbing in a superb long-range equaliser and Nasri tion battle and forthcoming FA Cup quarter-final against tom-left corner with the outside of his right foot. Nasri made it 2-0 in the 56th minute, meeting Aleksandar smashing home less than two minutes later before sub- Hull City. Sunderland were quick to gather men behind the ball Kolarov’s deflected left-wing cross with an emphatic shot stitute Jesus Navas added a third goal at the death. “The “We did everything we could,” said Sunderland manag- afterwards but they continued to threaten, with Wes from the edge of the box that swerved deliciously inside team deserve this cup because we played well during the er Gus Poyet.”That’s the best part of what we are all Brown heading over from a corner. the left-hand post. whole cup and scored a lot of goals,” said City manager about. To beat us they had to score two wonder goals. I When City did muster an attack, Nasri saw a tame shot Immediately, City introduced Navas in place of Aguero, Manuel Pellegrini. hate losing but I’m proud of the players.” saved by Mannone and it took a magnificent last-ditch while a shellshocked Sunderland sent on Craig Gardner “Sunderland played a good match also and we didn’t City welcomed back top scorer Sergio Aguero after a block by Kompany to prevent Borini from extending and Steven Fletcher, who quickly tested Pantilimon with a move the ball as fast as we needed (in the first half), but month out with a hamstring injury and he served an early Sunderland’s lead before half-time. It was to prove a low shot. Kompany almost added a third for City when he in the second half we scored two beautiful goals and had reminder of his threat with a snapshot that was parried spurned opportunity that Sunderland would rue, as with- hooked wide from a Nasri corner, before Navas rattled a the patience to wait for the moment.” Victory for City by Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone. Sunderland in 11 minutes of the restart, City were in front. shot inside Mannone’s near post from Toure’s pass to rub- enabled them to partially atone for the shock of last sea- had started the game with intent, however, snapping into The teams exchanged chances early in the second berstamp City’s third League Cup crown. — AFP Murray secures Benteke sparks Villa revival Hotspur, and their under-pressure manag- Palace a point er Chris Hughton when they took an early Aston Villa 4 lead,. Gary Hooper beat the offside trap to SWANSEA: Glenn Murray ended almost get in behind a static Villa defence and his a year of frustration by scoring his first cut-back found Hoolahan, who steered Swansea 1 ever Premier League goal through a the ball in but did not celebrate a goal second-half penalty to secure a 1-1 Norwich 1 against a club he has been tipped to join. draw for Crystal Palace against Swansea But Villa hit back in style when Benteke, yesterday. seemingly well-shackled by Joseph Yobo, The 30-year-old, who was Palace’s C Palace 1 leading scorer last season with 31 goals took a ball on his chest, turned and BIRMINGHAM: Christian Benteke scored but had not played since May because volleyed in an equaliser from 15 yards in of injury and had only returned to twice as Aston Villa came from a goal the 25th minute. action against Manchester United last behind to beat Norwich City 4-1 yesterday Barely had Norwich had time to recov- weekend, slotted home the penalty eight minutes from time. and move seven points clear of the er from that blow then Villa were in front Jonathan De Guzman had given the hosts the lead in the first-half but Murray’s Premier League relegation zone. when Belgium striker Benteke powered in goal, only Palace’s sixth away goal of the season and first since December 26, It was a remarkable turnaround for a header from a corner. earned his side a valuable point in the relegation battle. Villa, who’d gone three games without Hoolahan was twice denied in quick Swansea are five points above the relegation places as a result while Palace, who scoring a goal. The omens were not prom- succession by Brad Guzan, the Villa keeper have played a game fewer than the Swans, are three points clear of third from bot- ising for Villa manager Paul Lambert blocking a shot and follow-up header. To tom Sunderland. against his former club when Wes make matters worse for Norwich, they Sunderland have a game in hand on the London side and two on the Welsh out- Hoolahan gave visitors Norwich a third soon found themselves 3-1 behind when fit. Swansea dominated possession from the outset. minute lead. a Villa counter-attack saw the speedy It still took them over 20 minutes to turn that into creating chances but it was But a rainswept Villa Park then saw Gabriel Agbonlahor release Andreas worth waiting for from the home fans’ point of view as De Guzman netted. Benteke score two goals in three minutes Weimann, who in turn found Bacuna on It was a fine passing movement too as skipper Ashley Williams, Wilfried Bony and before half time the Birmingham club the overlap. and the recalled Leon Britton were all involved before De Guzman beat the Palace were 4-1 in front thanks to Leandro defence to the ball and slotted it home. Bacuna cut inside and then steered a Bacuna and an own-goal from Sebastien Palace’s woeful away goals record didn’t look like improving when Moroccan sht home off the inside off the post. And international striker Marouane Chamakh limped off in the first-half clutching his Bassong. four minutes before the break Villa were 4- hamstring. Swansea almost doubled their lead just after his exit as the impressive Defeat left Norwich just four points 1 up when the unfortunate Bassong could Bony leapt to head goalwards only for Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni to make a above the bottom three but having do nothing but steer Fabian Delph’s cross remarkable save and deny him his 11th league goal of the season. played a game more than nearest pur- into his own net, with Agbonlahor lurking Palace manager Tony Pulis changed his line-up at half-time sending on Murray suers Crystal Palace and West Bromwich behind him. Unsurprisingly, the second but the striker had to delay his entrance as he injured his hand warming up. Albion, and two games more than beaten half failed to match the first and when However, initially Murray failed to add much to the Palace attack and the League Cup finalists Sunderland. Hooper did break the offside trap six min- match looked to be petering out tamely until Chico Flores brought down the LONDON: Swansea City’ Chico Flores (right) and Crystal Palace’s Things looked good for the Canaries, utes from time his shot was parried away striker in the area. Flores was red-carded for the foul and Murray slotted home Marouane Chamakh vie for the ball during their English Premier fresh from a 1-0 win over Tottenham to safety by Guzan. — AFP the penalty.