How Man City won EFL Cup 2026

How Man City won EFL Cup 2026

• Manchester City won the EFL Cup for the ninth time after beating Arsenal 2-0, with Nico O'Reilly's quickfire brace doing the damage.

Nico O'Reilly described Manchester City's EFL Cup final triumph over Arsenal as "unbelievable" as his two goals helped Pep Guardiola's side to victory at Wembley Stadium. 

O'Reilly struck twice in the space of four second-half minutes, first capitalising on an error by Kepa Arrizabalaga before nodding in from Matheus Nunes' cross in the 64th minute.

Aged 21 years and one day, he is the third-youngest player to score a brace in an EFL Cup final, after Wayne Rooney for Manchester United against Wigan Athletic in 2006 (20y 125d) and Ronnie Whelan for Liverpool against Tottenham in 1982 (20y 169d).

He also made more tackles (four) than any other player for the Citizens, while only the impressive Jeremy Doku (12) won more duels on Sunday than full-back O'Reilly's 10.

O'Reilly's contributions helped Guardiola to a fifth EFL Cup title, the most of any manager in the competition's history, overtaking Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.

"Unbelievable feeling. To win a final, to beat this team, we know how good they are. We need to build on it, it will give us good momentum. Buzzing with today," O'Reilly said. 

"Bit of disbelief seeing all the fans cheering like that when I scored those goals. It was really a good feeling and a great birthday weekend."

And Guardiola was quick to praise O'Reilly for his display, suggesting that his role in the team stemmed from a chat between the pair at the start of the campaign. 

"Maybe he was the signing of the season. When we started the season we had a long conversation with him," Guardiola added. 

"He started to play at left-back and impressed a lot. He can play in many roles, he is a guy in the final third in a position he likes. He made two fantastic goals."

City now boast 15 wins at the new Wembley as a neutral venue since it opened in 2007, the most such victories in that time at the national stadium, overtaking Chelsea's 14.

But in the Premier League, it is Arsenal who have the advantage, with Mikel Arteta's side nine points ahead of City, though Guardiola's men do have a game in hand over their title rivals. 

The Citizens go into the international break with a 2.2% chance of lifting the top-flight title, at least according to the Opta supercomputer, and Guardiola was quick to acknowledge the size of the task ahead of them in the league. 

"I would love to be nine points in front to be honest. It's in their hands. We need time, an incredible break. I am exhausted, and after, we'll see, step by step," Guardiola said.