Toure inspires city's league cup glory

 Sensational quick-fire goals by Yaya Toure and
Samir Nasri inspired Manchester City to come
from behind and beat Sunderland 3-1 in the
League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. *Man City players celebrating their League Cup
triumph Sunderland had taken a 10th-minute lead through
on-loan Liverpool striker Fabio Borini and a fine first-
half display left them on course for a first piece of
major silverware since 1973. However, City responded in the second half, with
Toure lobbing in a superb long-range equaliser and
Nasri smashing home less than two minutes later
before substitute Jesus Navas added a third goal at
the death. Victory for City enabled them to partially atone for
the shock of last season's loss to Wigan Athletic in
the FA Cup final and keeps Manuel Pellegrini's side
on course for a domestic treble. It was ultimately a bittersweet first trip to the new
Wembley for Sunderland, but they could reflect with
pride on a valiant display that augurs well for their
Premier League relegation battle and forthcoming
FA Cup quarterfinal against Hull City. City welcomed back top scorer Sergio Aguero after
a month out with a hamstring injury and he served
an early reminder of his threat with a snapshot that
was parried by Sunderland goalkeeper Vito
Mannone. Gus Poyet's Sunderland had started the game with
intent, however, snapping into tackles in the middle
of the pitch, and a minute later they rocked City by
taking the lead. Lee Cattermole, starting in place of the cup-tied
Liam Bridcutt, robbed Toure just outside the
Sunderland area and fed Adam Johnson, who lofted
a ball down the right flank for Borini to chase. Vincent Kompany got to the ball first, but the City
captain's attempted clearance was blocked by
Borini, who cut into the box from the right and deftly
found the bottom-left corner with the outside of his
right foot. Sunderland were quick to gather men behind the
ball, but they continued to threaten, with Wes Brown
heading over from a corner and Johnson sparking
panic in the City defence with a low cross. When City did muster an attack, Nasri saw a tame
shot saved by Mannone, and it took a magnificent
last-ditch block by Kompany to prevent Borini from
extending Sunderland's lead before halftime. It was to prove a spurned opportunity that
Sunderland would rue, as within 11 minutes of kick-
off after the interval, City were in front. The teams exchanged chances early in the second
half, David Silva testing Mannone and Costel
Pantilimon pushing a long-range Ki Sung-yueng
effort over at the other end, before Toure equalised
with an exquisite strike.

Vanguard

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