Man City prove rebuild is complete as calamity Kepa costs Arsenal Carabao Cup

Pep Guardiola set off down the touchline, unleashing his inner Jose Mourinho on a joyous run into the history books. Given how much else Guardiola has achieved, a fifth League Cup – more than any other manager in the competition’s history – may be a footnote. But a first trophy for his new-look Manchester City side has a significance for Guardiola, offering proof of his ability to renew and revive.

And denying his former assistant Mikel Arteta silverware, and a quadruple, meant this was not the day to prove there has been a changing of the guard . Guardiola is still a serial winner, Arteta a manager accustomed to coming second to his old mentor . A day when Arsenal paid a price for both their dullness and the lone risk Arteta took – in his choice of goalkeeper – was an occasion when City could celebrate one of their own.

Blimey O’Reilly? There have been points in Nico O’Reilly’s remarkable rise when the temptation has been to assume he cannot continue defying logic. A Wembley brace in four minutes instead felt the most extraordinary element of it.

The secret to breaking down Arsenal’s robust, redoubtable defence, it transpired, was to have a marauding left-back who materialised in the centre-forward position. Nico O’Reilly was the hero as his two goals guided Man City to glory (AFP via Getty Images) Arsenal had only lost three games all season; but then they encountered O’Reilly, who ensured it mattered not that Erling Haaland extended his drought both at Wembley and in finals for City. The penalty-box poacher instead was O’Reilly, a midfielder for much of his life, a defender now and yet only the second player – after Alejandro Garnacho – to score twice in a game against Arsenal this season.