Ishika Roy, Pune
Manchester City beat Sevilla 5-4 in a penalty shootout to win the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday under the mentorship of Pep Guardiola. The Super Cup is an annual match played between the winners of last season’s Europa League and Champions League. This marks the 15th victory Manchester City is celebrating under Guardiola and was the perfect response to their loss against Arsenal in the Community Shield a few days ago.
The two teams scored a 1-1 draw during regulation time and managed nine spot kicks at penalty. Nemanja Gudelj scored the last goal to grant Man City the trophy at Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis in Athens. Sevilla got a lead at the 25th-minute mark owing to Youssef En-Nesyri scoring a header, but City’s Cole Palmer equalized it at the 63rd in the second half of the match.
Captain Kyle Walker lifted the trophy amidst chants of “champion” echoed by his teammates on the field. “It was always going to be a tough game. The boys put in a good performance. We have to be more clinical, but we got the job done,” Walker told TNT Sports. “If anyone played with me, they knew I don’t like taking penalties because I don’t like letting people down if I miss. Pep put me in at five to show leadership. Luckily, it went in, and it was the winning one,” he further added.
Pep Guardiola is the second manager to win the Super Cup four times, following closely behind Carlo Ancelotti. He is also the first to win it with three separate teams: once with Bayern Munich in 2013 and twice with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. Despite a difficult season with the early departures of Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez and an injury to Kevin De Bruyne which can stretch to a break up to four months, Man City is set to play the Club World Cup in December.