What on earth are we supposed to do with ourselves today? It’s like Christmas Day but Santa hasn’t brought any presents.
In this instance, Santa is actually a thin bald man but Carabao Day just isn’t the same without Pep Guardiola and a band of diminutive creatives bringing home the goods.
Liverpool or Chelsea should be in no doubt: the weird three-handled trophy is on loan.
Manchester City’s dominance of the League Cup amounts to six wins in the previous eight editions. Picking a favourite late winter's day out at Etihad South (aka Wembley) is probably a bit like ranking your children.
These were all special days but here they are - from the very enjoyable indeed to the absolutely immense.
6) Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester City (2020)
The League Cup has become a springboard for Premier League title glory over recent years (come on, Chelsea!) and there’s no doubt a little bit of the shine is taken off any success that didn’t lead to further celebrations in May.
Admittedly, that sounds a bit spoilt and City’s 2020 win over Aston Villa is still very fondly remembered as Phil Foden’s true breakout moment. An assist for Sergio Aguero’s decisive goal after Rodri headed the Blues into an early lead and a dazzling all-round showing saw the then 19-year-old named man of the match.
But the sight of Guardiola’s side struggling after establishing an early advantage was in keeping with a frustrating season and the final whistle was accompanied by relief as much as elation. This game also occupies a curious place in history, taken in as it was by a sold-out Wembley at the start of March. A couple of weeks later the whole world was in lockdown and it was surreal to think it had even happened at all.
5) Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham (2021)
In some respects, last season’s final felt like the end of the chapter that began with the win over Villa. It was the first time since March the previous year that City fans had been able to watch their team in the flesh. Sure, there were only 2,000 in a heavily-restricted capacity but we’d never take such simple pleasures for granted again.
The sound of actual cheering by humans as opposed to artificial noise when Aymeric Laporte nodded in the second-half winner was beautiful and it crowned a brilliant, dominant performance from Guardiola’s title-bound side.
Admittedly, it would have been nicer to see Pep dishing out a beating to Jose Mourinho, who was sacked on the week of the game. Unleashing a masterclass on Ryan Mason felt a bit like that time Michael Owen spanked finish after finish past a helpless 13-year-old.
4) Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City, pens 1-3 (2016)
There was no title after this win and City only just qualified for the Champions League on goal difference as Manuel Pellegrini’s reign limped to its conclusion.
But any victory over Liverpool is sweet and this one, despite needing penalties, was richly deserved. Fernandinho supplied the opening goal via an all-action display from the right of midfield, although his countryman Philippe Coutinho smuggled an equaliser to herald extra time.
City were the better team in the additional period too but to no avail, leaving Willy Caballero to be the unlikely hero with an incredible trio of penalty saves from Lucas Leiva, Coutinho and Adam Lallana, leaving Yaya Toure to dispatch the decisive spot-kick.
3) Manchester City 0-0 Chelsea, pens 4-3 (2019)
This seems like a pretty high placement for a goalless draw with precious little goalmouth action but what a day out. The City end was in fine voice at a time when the Laporte and Bernardo Silva songs were really taking off.
To give them their due, Chelsea provided some wonderful entertainment, with Kepa Arrizabalaga refusing to be substituted and Maurizio Sarri furiously storming down the tunnel for a brief period.
Kepa saved from Leroy Sane in the shootout but Ederson denied Jorginho (surely the most unreliable penalty “specialist” in football) and David Luiz hit the post. To use his own post-match description, that left Raheem Sterling to go “top bins” and win the cup - a particularly sweet outcome given the vile abuse he received at Stamford Bridge a couple of months earlier.
2) Arsenal 0-3 Manchester City (2018)
“This is a great, great goal. Forget about Arsenal, I’ll come on to them in a minute because they’re a disgrace,” came Gary Neville’s very amusing commentary after David Silva scored to seal this particular Carabao triumph.
It’s true, from Shkodran Mustafi’s failure to do much in the way of defending for Aguero’s opener (“under-12s” and “pathetic” were among Neville’s assessments) onwards, Arsene Wenger’s faded side did not put up much of a fight.
But this was a wonderful occasion, as both a celebration of a passing era and the start of a new one. Guardiola’s first trophy as City manager being won thanks to goals from Aguero, Silva and Vincent Kompany felt like a baton being passed between some very safe hands.
1) Manchester City 3-1 Sunderland (2014)
A final and a weekend that had everything. City hadn’t won the League Cup since 1976 and it felt like most of the population of Sunderland descended upon the capital. It made for a carnival atmosphere but the blue half of the national stadium was fearing the worst when Fabio Borini put the Black Cats ahead.
City had recently endured a mind-numbing run of 1-0 defeats to Sunderland and a listless first half suggested this one was heading the same way.
But Toure pulled out a moment of magic with a stunning 35-yard strike that looped into the top corner. Samir Nasri’s crashing outside-of-the-foot finish meant two of the finest goals the new Wembley has seen occurred within two minutes of one another. Jesus Navas - yes, really - completed the scoring and Pellegrini was set up for a successful Premier League title charge.
Which was your favourite Manchester City League Cup victory of the past decade? Follow City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
