MANCHESTER (Halbeeg News) – Manchester City won its second straight English Premier League soccer trophy on Sunday, finishing one point ahead of Liverpool in a thrilling title race and giving Guardiola eight league championships over 10 years in three countries.
“Winning the title gives you a lot of energy,” Guardiola said after a clinching 4-1 victory at Brighton. “And is so addictive.”
Man City fell behind early before Sergio Aguero tied it 83 seconds later. Aymeric Laporte’s header in the 38th minute to put City in front, and it added goals in the second half from Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gündogan. The victory kept City just ahead of Liverpool, which beat Wolverhampton 2-0 in another season finale.
Now Manchester City, which was trampled on for so many years by Manchester United — and had to escape the third tier 20 years ago this month — is the force of English football with four titles in eight seasons. City finished first in 2012 under Roberto Mancini and in ’14 led by Manuel Pellegrini, then under Guardiola became the first repeat champion in a decade. Guardiola earned six league titles as a defensive midfielder for Barcelona in the 1990s, the had hat tricks of league titles as coach at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
“I push my staff,” Guardiola said, “and I push myself.”
City trailed Liverpool by seven points in late December but won its final 14 games after a defeat Jan. 29 at Newcastle and finished with 98 points, the second-highest total in English history behind its 100 last year. Liverpool, chasing its first championship in 29 years, finished with the highest total for a non-champion.
“Liverpool was exceptional, I don’t mean to rub it in, it is what it is, they didn’t deserve to lose,” said 33-year-old City captain Vincent Kompany, who helped maintain the lead last week when his long-range goal in the second half provided a 1-0 win over Leicester. “It makes me so much more happy that we played such a great team all season.” (AP)
Source: Sports Digest
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