Logo

Sports

Manchester City wins Premier League with a comeback for the history books

Fourth Premiership title for Pep Guardiola after a stunning comeback against Aston Villa 3-2 with a decisive Gundogan goal

By Andy Leal Cerdá

May 22, 2022 8:18pm

Updated: May 23, 2022 12:39pm

When Manchester City commemorated this week the 10th anniversary of Sergio "Kun" Agüero's miraculous goal that secured the Premier League title, it was hard to imagine an equally spectacular comeback in England. But this time City, falling behind 2-0 to Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa with 15 minutes remaining, scored three goals in six minutes to secure a fourth Premier League crown in five seasons under Pep Guardiola.

Substitute Ilkay Gundogan played the role of "Kun" Agüero, along with a brilliant strike from Rodri. Goals from Matty Cash and Philippe Coutinho to end Liverpool's hopes of an unprecedented quadruple. City was unrecognizable for 75 minutes, with dropped passes and a panic-stricken attitude in a game that was a final. But somehow, they mustered the willpower to sweep Villa aside in those five minutes of madness.

Liverpool was at a draw at Anfield with Wolverhampton as the drama mounted, but Jürgen Klopp's men eventually secured a long-awaited victory. A decade ago, Manchester City was losing 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers before Edin Dzeko and Aguero sealed their first Premier League crown. Their sixth title was won on an equally historic Sunday afternoon.  

Gerrard, the legendary former Liverpool captain, almost gave his beloved club the title when his "villains" took a 2-0 lead. But City got back on their feet when Gundogan was called in. Aston Villa was left to defend tooth and nail, while Liverpool held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves after Pedro Neto's first-minute opener and Sadio Mané's equalizer.

In the 76th minute, City finally found the net, with Sterling's cross to the far post, where Gundogan headed home. Just over two minutes later, Zinchenko, another City substitute who had made a big impact, darted down the left and cut back for Rodri, who powered a shot from the edge of the box into the corner of the net to equalize with a cracker of a goal.

The crowd was on its feet, but, of course, a draw would not be enough if Liverpool could find a winning goal. Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson gave the Reds the win, but in Manchester, a miracle was achieved. De Bruyne took advantage of a defensive pass and got ahead of the defense to cross to Gundogan, who finished at the far post and became the new hero of the "Citizens".

With this win, City earned their eighth league title, sixth in the Premier League era, as Guardiola overtook Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wegner to become the second manager with the most Premier League crowns after Sir Alex Ferguson.

Related Articles

The latest