Manchester City secured their first silverware of the season after beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday

Manchester City have entered the final international break of the season with fresh optimism after beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. The victory and the manner of it has led many to back City to catch the Gunners in what would be a superb turnaround.

Regardless of whether or not they manage it, winning the League Cup is incredibly important for this group of players as they aim to replicate the dominance of the previous Pep Guardiola generation. With a new sense of confidence and belief, City will enjoy the next few weeks.

With the season heading towards an exciting crescendo, MEN Sport has taken a look at the six winners and losers from this campaign so far.

Winners

Nico O’Reilly

This is not merely recency bias, O’Reilly has enjoyed a brilliant year for the Blues. Guardiola hailed him as the ‘signing of the season’ after the Carabao Cup final and you can see where he was coming from.

O’Reilly is the latest midfielder who has had to adapt to playing left-back but he has done so, excellently. The 21-year-old provided cover when needed but has shown he is more than just a stand-in for City.

In midfield, he has performed well despite bigger names arriving in the summer. His brace at Wembley was just rewards for an impressive campaign.

Bernardo Silva

If this is to be his final chapter, Bernardo is looking to go out on a high. The original utility player for Guardiola has led by example this season and fully deserved to lift that trophy on Sunday.

Should he leave at the end of the campaign, expect Guardiola to shed a tear like he has when the likes of Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne left. The midfielder should be held in the same high regard as those club legends.

Winning silverware this season also means Bernardo’s time at City does not end on a sour note, regardless of what happens between now and May.

Gianluigi Donnarumma

Erling Haaland’s patchy form in recent weeks means he just misses out as being the third winner on the list to Donnarumma. The Italian goalkeeper has been sensational this campaign with his performance at Anfield just one that will live long in the memory.

He arrived as the anti-Guardiola goalkeeper in many ways. While his ability to play out from the back has been understated, he was never going to be the next Ederson.

Instead, he is one of the best shot stoppers in the world and this has led him to keep another sensational goalkeeper out of the team.

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Losers

James Trafford

That other sensational goalkeeper is Trafford. Having signed from Burnley, the 23-year-old would have felt he was going to be first choice, until Donnarumma came along.

He has had to make do with a lack of games but City’s performances in the FA and Carabao Cup has given him more minutes than he perhaps would have received. As is the nature of this season, even those who have lost out have had moments to shine.

Trafford’s moment was under the arch on Sunday and nobody could have been happier for him than Guardiola and Donnarumma.

Phil Foden

After a brilliant November into December period, Foden has gone off the boil for the Blues. He has not scored since the win over Crystal Palace in December and since the Manchester derby, he has been forced into cameo roles from the bench.

This season was expected to be the response after a difficult 2024/25 where fixture congestion took its toll. But it has not quite happened for the midfielder.

He is in the England squad for this international break but there is no guarantee he will go to the World Cup if he does not, a) play more games and b) contribute more goals and assists.

John Stones

Stones has also made the England squad this month but he won’t think his spot on the plane is guaranteed either. The centre-back has had a decorated career at City despite injuries plaguing his career.

This season, a thigh issue kept him out for two months and he has struggled to find a rhythm since. It is expected he will leave at the end of this campaign and whoever snaps up the 31-year-old will be getting a brilliant defender.

But injuries have meant this season has not been the potential farewell tour he deserved.

Jamie Carragher has accused Gianluigi Donnarumma of ‘blinking first’ in the title race and says his rival David Raya could be one of the ‘biggest reasons’ Arsenal win the Premier League.

Last month Liverpool legend and ex-England defender Carragher suggested Donnarumma could be the key for Man City to beat Arsenal to the league title.

Carragher doubted City’s title credentials at the start of the season but changed his mind as soon as Donnarumma moved to the Etihad Stadium from PSG.

‘At the start of the season, I didn’t think there was any way City could win the league because of the goalkeeping situation,’ Carragher said.

‘No one wins a Premier League without an absolutely great goalkeeper and there’s no doubt about Donnarumma, a Champions League winner who won the Euros with Italy.

‘They’ve got a goalkeeper who can win the league. before they signed him, there was no way they could win a league without signing someone of that calibre.’

Manchester City signed Donnarumma to replace Ederson as Pep Guardiola’s No. 1 despite welcoming James Trafford to the club earlier in the summer.

At just £26m, Donnarumma has been one of the signings of the season, frequently pulling off impressive saves to earn Man City points.

But the 27-year-old Italian made a rare mistake in City’s 1-1 draw with West Ham on Saturday, failing to claim a corner and allowing ex-Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos to head home.

The error proved crucial as City were unable to respond with a winner, slipping nine points behind title rivals Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners beat Everton 2-0 earlier in the day, with 16-year-old Max Dowman stealing headlines with an immense performance off the bench.

But Raya also played a key role in Arsenal’s crucial win, making a number of saves while the score was still goalless before two late goals sealed the three points for Arteta’s side.

Carragher highlighted the difference between Raya and Donnarumma’s weekend’s on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football and insisted the former could be ‘one of the biggest reasons’ Arsenal win the title.

Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Vinicius Jr from the penalty spot during the 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid

Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma appeared to play some mind games with Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr during his side’s 3-0 Champions League round of 16 first-leg defeat. City were blown away in the first half at the Bernabeu as Real captain Federico Valverde scored a 22-minute hat-trick.

Los Blancos had the chance to make it four in the second half when Vinicius Jr was fouled by Donnarumma. As he prepared to take the penalty, Donnarumma appeared to say: “Ha fatto il fenomeno.” This directly translates into English as: “He made the phenomenon.”

While in the literal sense, someone could say this as a compliment, Football Italia reports it is often used sarcastically to mock a player for trying to do too much and show off. Vinicius tried to wrong-foot the goalkeeper from the spot, only for the City man to save it.

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Pep Guardiola’s side were unable to capitalise on the save as Nico O’Reilly was denied by a superb Thibaut Courtois stop. After the match, Guardiola insisted that, despite the scoreline, he was pleased by his team’s performance.

“I think we played quite a good game,” he said. “I think we’ve tried to do our best and we could not create chances where Courtois could not intervene. We got to the box many times and when you were able to do that it means you have followed a good process but we didn’t score.

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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.

“Real Madrid has always been very dangerous but I don’t have the feeling that Courtois has played a great game. He made a parry from Nico in the second half but we have reached that byline many times – six, seven, eight times – so we’ve done a good job, we were just missing this detail.

“If you dominate [Real] you always have this feeling of them being able to run but my feeling about ourselves is we’ve done quite a good job. But because the score is 3-0 that is a little bit useless.”

Manchester City have a mountain to climb heading into the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie at the Etihad Stadium, following a damaging 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu

Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made his feelings clear to Joe Hart with a private message, claiming the Champions League tie with Real Madrid is far from over.

On TNT Sport, Hart lifted the lid on an interaction between the two after the full-time whistle and the former City goalkeeper said: “He said: ‘Let’s go, it’s not over, let’s go’, It gave me chills, I love that guy!”

Pep Guardiola’s side have a mountain to climb with Real Madrid racing into a 3-0 lead by half-time. A brilliant hat-trick from Fede Valverde has Alvaro Arbeloa’s side in total control ahead of the second leg at the Etihad Stadium next week.

A lot had been made of Los Blancos’ extensive injury list ahead of Wednesday’s encounter with their old adversaries at the Bernabeu, with notable absentees including Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo.

However, Valverde rose to the occasion and the Uruguayan midfielder tore City to shreds with a ruthless display of finishing.

He netted three times in just 22 minutes and things could have deteriorated further for Pep Guardiola’s men had Donnarumma not denied Vinicius Junior from the penalty spot in the second half.

It capped a miserable 48 hours for English clubs in the Spanish capital following Tottenham’s 5-2 thrashing at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

City, who had entered the tie as favourites, have a daunting challenge in next week’s return leg at the Etihad Stadium.

The away side actually began positively and tried to impose themselves on Real Madrid. Antoine Semenyo unleashed an early effort at Thibaut Courtois whilst the energetic Jeremy Doku fired efforts across the goalmouth.

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Nico O’Reilly also came close and Bernardo Silva sent a volley narrowly wide as they tried to capitalise on a depleted Real Madrid side.

But the hosts issued a warning when former City academy graduate Brahim Diaz drew a save from Donnarumma, though it went ignored.

The Premier League side were caught napping by a long delivery from Courtois which sailed over O’Reilly’s head, and Valverde controlled it superbly in his stride. He then glided past Donnarumma and finished superbly while off-balance from a narrow angle.

City had scarcely had chance to recover before Valverde added his second seven minutes later. He may have benefited from fortune as a Vinicius pass deflected into his path, but there was nothing lucky about his touch as he composed himself to fire a low left-footed effort beyond Donnarumma.

The third was the best of the bunch and completed his stunning hat-trick before the interval as Jude Bellingham watched on in awe.

Valverde flicked the ball over the head of Marc Guehi and hammered home a volley to ramp up the pressure on City ahead of the return fixture.

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Manchester City fell behind to Real Madrid in the 20th minute as Federico Valverde pounced on a mistake from Gianluigi Donnarumma, before the goalscorer went on to seal a first-half hat-trick

Ally McCoist ripped apart Gianluigi Donnarumma after the Manchester City goalkeeper made a costly error leading to Real Madrid’s opening goal at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Despite making a positive start to the Champions League last 16 first leg tie, it was Real who took the lead in the 20th minute.

Thibaut Courtois long pass caused all sorts of trouble for the City back-line and Valverde managed to get in behind before prodding the ball past Donnarumma and slotting into an empty net.

Donnarumma had made the decision to storm out of his goal and attempt to win the ball, but Valverde got there first and kept his composure, scoring from a tight angle and giving Real the lead.

From allowing Valverde to get in behind to Donnarumma flying out his goal and getting beaten, it’s goal that City are no doubt going to be frustrated about conceding.

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Ex-Rangers forward McCoist pulled no punches on the defending leading to Valverde’s first goal, saying it was “diabolical” from City’s perspective.

McCoist said on TNT Sports: “The ball’s out of this world, so’s the finish, just touches it round Donnarumma. Does he kind of just pull his left arm away?! It’s a beautiful touch (from Valverde) to take him away from O’Reilly, knocks it round him, goes the other way…

“Diabolical goal to lose defensively, you cannot lose goals at any level, never mind this level, from a goalkeeper’s punt up the park to a wide area, two touches and the ball’s in the back of the net.”

Former City goalkeeper Joe Hart provided a much more balanced look, meanwhile, and appeared to defend Donnarumma, who did pull his arms and legs back to avoid making contact with Valverde and giving a potential penalty – or even a red card – away.

Hart said on TNT Sports: “Just as we see it guys, unbelievable touch from Fede Valverde, but what I am seeing there is that because Donnarumma is committed, coming at pace, he is thinking he might slide tackle outside the box. And as it goes past him, he makes the calculated decision to think, ‘I don’t need to be giving a penalty away and a potential red card here, so I’ll sacrifice the goal.’

“When he looks back he’ll know he can use his hands, but with the way he is attacking that ball he’s thinking, ‘tackle, tackle, tackle’ and he hasn’t realised that his hands are actually inside the box.”

That goal seemed to rock City as Real pounced and made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. Valverde netted his second of the game as he ran on to a threaded pass from Vinicius Jr before firing a low left-footed shot past Donnarumma.

Things then went from bad to worse for City as Real scored a third before half-time. It was that man Valverde again who completed his hat-trick, as the Uruguayan clipped the ball over Marc Guehi’s head inside the box before burying a shot beyond Donnarumma to make it 3-0.

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Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford returned to the club in summer but was quickly displaced by Gianluigi Donnarumma

James Trafford said that he had no idea Manchester City were signing Gianluigi Donnarumma when he agreed to move to the Etihad. Trafford could leave after just one season after finding his ambition of regular football for club and country dashed inside a month.

Newcastle were confident making Trafford their No.1 last summer and offered Burnley a fee that the Premier League newcomers would have accepted. However, City had a clause from when they sold the goalkeeper that allowed them to match any bid and they duly did, leaving the decision in Trafford’s hands.

The 23-year-old ultimately opted for a return to the Etihad as his best chance of meeting his ambitions to become a No.1 at the highest level for club and country. However, before the transfer window closed City brought in Donnarumma from PSG and declared the 26-year-old as a signing for the next decade.

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Donnarumma has said he was aware of City’s interest before the summer transfer window started and that contact strengthened after the Club World Cup – a month before Trafford was signed. According to Trafford, while he wasn’t definitively told he would be No.1 when he picked City over Newcastle he wasn’t told about Donnarumma either.

“It wasn’t that, but it wasn’t what happened [either], so it is what it is, it’s football,” he said. “It is what it is, you’ve got to keep grafting every day and the games that come, play as hard as you can. It’s just another experience to add to my career and yeah, it has been good learning.”

Donnarumma instantly came into the team when he signed in September and Trafford has not played a Premier League game since, having to be content with cup competitions for a chance to shine. He has taken his opportunities, making important stops in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle as well as the FA Cup win over Salford on Saturday.

His lack of game time has put his England place in jeopardy for the World Cup though. Rather than pushing to be No.1, he was left out of the last squad altogether before being belatedly called up when Nick Pope picked up an injury.

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Trafford is trying to make the best of his situation, but did not sound upbeat when he stopped to speak after the Salford game. Having looked to leave City in the January window, he did little to play down the idea that an exit is on the cards for the summer as he admitted that he hadn’t spoken to anybody at England about his hopes of going to the World Cup.

“I haven’t spoken to them [about] if that’s enough, but I play as well as I can and train every day very hard and it’s just down to me. Obviously everyone knows what’s going on with me, so I’ve just got to, whenever I play, play as well as I can.

“I’ve obviously got a contract, so yeah, I don’t know what happens next season. I just know that I’ll just take it a day at a time and try and improve.”

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