Manchester City 3-2 Aston Villa: Ilkay Gundogan comes off the bench to rescue Pep Guardiola's side with a brace as the hosts score three goals in five minutes to complete a dramatic comeback and win the Premier League title

• Manchester City stumbled in the first half with Matty Cash scoring a header for Aston Villa in the 37th minute
• Pep Guardiola's side fell further behind in the second half when ex-Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho scored 
• But substitutes combined as Ilkay Gundogan headed home from a Raheem Sterling cross in the 76th minute
• A quickfire double saw Rodri equalise just two minutes later to help City reignite their stuttering title bid
• The Etihad exploded again with nine minutes to play when Gundogan scored the all-important winner for City 

They do not do things by halves, this club. Not on the last day of the season. Not with the title at stake.

Pep Guardiola called it a week in advance. ‘If we don’t win, Liverpool will take the league,’ he predicted. And he was right. Liverpool did their part, coming from behind to beat Wolves 3-1.

Steven Gerrard did his part, too, his Aston Villa seizing a two-goal lead at the Etihad Stadium and frightening the bejesus out of the locals. And Manchester City? They looked to have blown it, again.

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For 75 minutes they turned in arguably their poorest display of the season, certainly at home. After the crushing disappointment against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final, they were on course to become the first team to surrender the title having led the table on the final day.

And then, arguably, the greatest comeback of them all. Greater than that Aguero moment? Probably, yes, because the road back was so much harder. Queens Park Rangers were down to 10 men that day, and safe from relegation. They were a poor team, though.

Villa, by contrast, are dangerous, certainly on the break. They are coached and peopled with Liverpool legends, who would have been fielding hopes and prayers from Merseyside all week. And they were ahead by two goals.

One of the red legends had seen to that. Philippe Coutinho turning Aymeric Laporte inside out, after Ollie Watkins had beaten Rodri to a big goal-kick. Coutinho shot low past Ederson and the title looked as if it was slipping from City’s grasp. 

There were 21 minutes left. With the games as they stood, City needed three goals, if Liverpool so much as scored one. And they were always going to score at least one. In the end, they got two.

So Guardiola’s prediction held true. City had to win. But they weren’t playing like winners, let alone champions. They weren’t playing like City at all really.

MATCH FACTS, AND FINAL LEAGUE TABLE

Man City (4-3-3): 

Ederson, Stones, Fernandinho (Zinchenko 46), Laporte, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva (Gundogan 68), Mahrez (Sterling 56), Gabriel Jesus, Foden.

Subs not used: Walker, Ake, Grealish, Carson, Palmer, McAtee.

Goals: Gundogan 76, 81, Rodri 78

Aston Villa (4-3-2-1): 

Olsen, Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Ramsey (Ings 83), Buendia (Youngs 88), Coutinho (Nakamba 72), Watkins.

Subs: Sanson, Traore,, Chukwuemeka, Sinisalo, Chrisene, Iroegbunam.

Goals: Cash 37, Coutinho 69.

Booked: Mings, Nakamba

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

 

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And then, it was as if a switch had been flicked. As if, with 15 minutes remaining, City suddenly woke up to the looming calamity. A season without trophies. A Liverpool quadruple. Gundogan had been introduced for Bernardo Silva a minute before Coutinho scored. It seemed the worst possible timing and on what will probably be his final game for the club, too. But Gundogan will not leave a loser. Gundogan will leave a legend.

He made the miracle happen. Not alone, obviously. But he scored the chances others had been missing. And he did it quick, too, because time was of the essence.

Incredibly, City scored three to win the game and the title. Incredibly, City scored three in the space of six minutes, having not looked like they had a goal in them for the preceding 76. Incredibly, City came back from 2-0 down for the first time since February 28, 2005, against Norwich.

They were a different club, back then. Not long out of the third tier. In the squad: Joey Barton, Ben Thatcher, Richard Dunne. They came eighth and were highly delighted with it. Nobody had heard of Sheik Mansour.

So this was a remarkable comeback. Truly remarkable. The last man to affect City like this on the final day of the season now has a statue outside the ground. Maybe Gundogan will get one beside him. He scored two of the goals, the first and last. All were important, but Gundogan started the ball rolling, and then kept it rolling until City had won the league.

The first came after 76 minutes. Raheem Sterling, like Gundogan a second-half substitute, delivered something City had been missing all game: a good, early cross. Too often they had pussy-footed, delayed, searching for the perfect pass. Sometimes perfection is simply catching the opposition before they get a chance to organise.

Villa had been organised all game. They had defended brilliantly, in fact. Yet Sterling put them under pressure. He crossed from the right and Gundogan met it with his head at the far post. A muttering, nervous silence had been the score for much of this game, but the goal replaced that soundtrack with roars.

Just two minutes later, City were level. Rodri is supposed to be City’s defensive rock in midfield, but Guardiola’s style asks everybody to deliver as an attacking threat. When the ball was fed to Rodri outside the area, he as good as side-footed it into the net past Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen from 20 yards. This may be why Guardiola feels no pressing need to enter the bidding for Declan Rice.

Yet, still, City remained vulnerable. They had a point, Liverpool had a point. If Liverpool turned that to three, the title was theirs. If City found a third, Liverpool could score 10 and it still wouldn’t matter. And so, with nine minutes remaining, the biggest goal of City’s season.

Credit Kevin De Bruyne here. He didn’t stop believing. It wasn’t his finest game, but he never stopped driving for the win. He spied that Villa didn’t have the ball under control in their area and gave his last drop of energy to win it. Having done so, he then saw Gundogan lurking again at the far post. His cross begged for the simplest conversion and Gundogan delivered it. This was the football City had failed to play until it was almost too late. Clinical, straightforward, technically excellent. This was the football of champions. Where were they, for so long? 

In disguise, it seemed. For the second match in succession, City had been required to come from two goals down to stay on course. Remember that advert for Anadin? Tense, nervous headache? There wouldn’t have been a pill big enough to cure Manchester City’s ills at half-time. As for Guardiola, a straitjacket couldn’t have contained him. When have we seen City play like this? West Ham last week? That was different. City were lousy for 45 minutes. Unrecognisable, really. This was tangibly City, but almost a lite version. They dominated possession as usual, but with none of the recognisable certainty. They tried moves that were alien to them. Long range pot shots, unnecessarily difficult passes. They tried too hard, whilst lacking the usual zip.

Maybe they heard the news of the early Wolves goal at Anfield and became convinced of the inevitability of the win. Maybe they were nervous, rattled by the thought of going home with nothing as Liverpool won everything. Who knows why good teams go bad like this? And City were rotten in the first-half, no doubting that.

Given the standards they have set it couldn’t be argued that Aston Villa weren’t good for their lead. It wasn’t as if they dominated. More, they defended expertly and took the best chance they created. City didn’t have an effort on target in the first 45 minutes; incredible given the circumstances, and at home.

So, approaching half-time, the mood was edgy. Joao Cancelo and Fernandinho, in particular, were struggling defensively and Villa were looking dangerous on the counter. After 37 minutes, those worst fears were confirmed. A great carry through the middle by Jacob Ramsey saw the ball passed wide to Lucas Digne, and his cross was struck perfectly for Matty Cash, arriving with great timing at the far post and getting in front of Cancelo. It could have been worse, too, had Watkins not overrun a one on one chance shortly before half-time. Guardiola had seen enough by then. Fernandinho was removed at half-time, replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko. From there things began to change.

‘Typical City,’ said a fan, when it was over. But it wasn’t typical. It was marvellous. The team, the game, the whole season really. It was the perfect finale, nothing less.