Manchester City captain Kyle Walker attributed luck to their triumph in the UEFA Super Cup following their 5-4 (on penalties) win over Sevilla on Wednesday.
The Citizens claimed a fourth trophy of the calendar year after beating the Europa League holders in a shootout in Athens, with Nemanja Gudelj crashing the decisive spot-kick against the crossbar for Sevilla.
The Spanish side took the lead through Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri in the first half, but Cole Palmer headed home an equaliser for City.
The youngster’s goal saw him become just the second player to score in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup in the same year, after Michael Owen for Liverpool in 2001.
The forward’s goal forced a shootout and Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Walker converted all City’s five spot-kicks to add another piece of silverware to their growing collection.
“Good teams capitalise on people’s mistakes. We rode our luck and we got there. There were tough conditions, everyone sweating, you can see it’s really hot,” Walker, who scored the decision spotkick told TNT Sports.
“We’ve come away with this cup. To win this and put it in trophy cabinet at City is a good feeling.
“It was always going to be a tough game. The lads put in a good performance. We have to be more clinical but we got the job done.
“If anyone played with me they know I don’t like taking penalties because I don’t like letting people down if I miss. Pep put me in at five. [I wanted to] show leadership. Luckily it went in and was the winning one.”
The Citizens become the sixth English club to win the Super Cup, after Aston Villa, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Chelsea.
