The Manchester City dressing room witnessed an outpouring of emotions as players celebrated the Premier League title.
Manchester City players celebrate Premier League title win in their dressing room. Image: Twitter/@DeBruyneKev
Manchester City captured their fourth Premier League title in five years on Sunday after a dramatic late comeback against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s side entered their last game of the season with a one-point advantage over second-placed Liverpool and needed to maintain the lead to clinch the league title.
However, it was Villa who led 1-0 at the half-time and soon made it 2-0 as Liverpool chased a win over Wolverhampton.
Just like 2012 when Man City conjured a comeback to win their first Premier League title with two stoppage-time goals, they produced another rousing recovery.
This time it took three goals — all scored in five minutes from the 76th minute — to turn it around against Villa to win 3-2 and successfully defend the title by a single point.
Even when City were losing, Liverpool were still in second place because they were only drawing 1-1 with Wolves at Anfield.
But the importance of Ilkay Gundogan’s second goal in the 81st minute was magnified moments later when Mohamed Salah sent Liverpool in front against Wolves before Andy Robertson sealed a 3-1 win for Liverpool.
No wonder thousands of City fans flooded onto the field at the final whistle, defying orders against pitch invasions. Soon the stadium was cloaked in blue smoke.
Once the field was cleared, the Premier League trophy could be handed to City for the sixth time in 11 seasons. That looked unlikely when Matty Cash headed Villa in front in the 37th minute and former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho extended the lead in the 69th.
It took Ilkay G?ndogan’s header to begin the comeback in the 76th and Rodri equalised two minutes later by striking from the edge of the penalty area, placing the ball through a tight gap into the bottom corner. When G?ndogan tapped in Kevin De Bruyne’s cross in the 81st, the comeback was complete.
Without a doubt, the thrilling league title victory led to wild celebrations on and off the pitch. The dressing room celebrations were shared by the club’s official Twitter account. The dressing room witnessed an outpouring of emotions as players celebrated the famous win.
In a separate video, the star of the match, Gundogan, also shared his feelings after the title victory.
With AP inputs
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.