Caballero - the shootout king of Wembley

It’s already a decade since City lifted the League Cup for a fourth time in an unforgettable victory over Liverpool on penalties that is remembered as the ‘Willy Caballero final’. The City goalkeeper turned a 1-1 draw into shootout glory, except the man himself is far too modest to recall the triumph in those terms. “Don’t call it in that way,” he says. “It was a Man City cup – that’s what was important.” But the Argentinian was the undisputed king of Wembley on the penultimate day of February 2016 after three supreme penalty saves that secure the trophy. Concentrated and determined, Caballero stood on the goal-line like a gaucho gunfighter, staring down Liverpool players before dramatic interventions that sent the City fans stationed behind him wild. By the time Adam Lallana stepped up to take what would be the Reds’ fourth of final, our number 13 was simply invincible, pulling off an astonishing stop that gave Yaya Toure the chance to shoot for glory. Never missing a penalty throughout his career for the Blues, Toure made no mistake and the team-mates sprinted from the halfway line to celebrate with the midfielder and City’s goalkeeping hero. For Caballero it was a special occasion regardless of his heroics. Then 35, it was the culmination of a footballing journey that had take from Boca Juniors, through Elche and Malaga in Spain, to glory at the Etihad. “It’s not a small thing, it was a final, it was a decisive moment and it will be forever for the history of the club, definitely,” he says. “After 10 years, I don’t forgot what an amazing day that was. It was still early before City won a lot of trophies. “Every time that a player has the opportunity to win something, it’s special. My last trophy was over 10 years before when I was at Bocas Juniors. So for me, it was totally different than for other players. “I worked hard to have that opportunity and to celebrate with my team-mates. I came from six years in the second division, then a relegation, playing in the first division, so it was more difficult, but more enjoyable for me than others, because they won the league with City in the previous years.” Caballero had moved to the Etihad in the summer of 2014, re-joining City boss Manuel Pellegrini who he had played for during his time at Malaga. Starting his career at Boca, before moving to Spain, it was at Malaga where he showed his quality, going a Club record 480 minutes without conceding a goal in a golden age for Los Albicelestes. After finishing fourth in La Liga, Malaga reached the quarter-final of the Champions League before a controversial defeat to Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund. Pellegrini wanted to be reunited with his former keeper at City, believing he would be the ideal back-up for Joe Hart. “I am sure Willy will be very important for us but we have the best goalkeeper in England in Joe Hart,” the Chilean said after his signing. “Top teams need two players for each position because we have to play so many games during the year. “The best way to have the highest performance from the players is for it to be very competitive between them.” Caballero made his City debut at Wembley in the 2014/15 season curtain-raiser – as the Premier League champions were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal before going on to feature in our domestic cup games. Neither proved successful as we were surprisingly beaten at home by Newcastle in the League Cup and Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. But the following League Cup campaign started in style with a 4-1 win at Sunderland, 5-1 thrashing of Crystal Palace and 4-1 victory over Hull City. Everton stood in our way and after a 2-1 defeat at Goodison Park, City turned the tie around, winning 3-1 despite going a further goal behind. Klopp’s Liverpool beat Stoke City on penalties to reach the final but for Caballero there was uncertainty over whether he would play in the capital. The keeper had faced some harsh criticism and there was a clamour for Hart to step in, but Pellegrini had no doubts who would be in goal after a promise to his cup keeper. “I prefer to lose the title than to lose my word, there wasn’t any chance for Willy not to play,” he said. “Maybe your word is not important, maybe the most important thing is to win things, but I think my word is more important than football.” It was not ideal preparation for Caballero but it meant a lot to have the backing of his manager and his team-mates, including Hart. “I do know that it was difficult for me to arrive to the final with a confidence because I didn’t play much,” he says. “A lot of people though Joe deserved to play, because Joe is a top, top goalkeeper for City and I know supporters were expecting him to play. “I know that Manuel Pellegrini received a lot of criticism about the decision to put me on but I have a very good relationship with him. “Since working with him at Malaga, he gave me the confidence to play that final, and also I played the whole cup run so he didn’t twist and change for the final. So that was special for me to get the answer about his decision. “It was a difficult time I had to deal with a lot of criticism, not just from journalists or newspapers. Many criticisms now comes with the social media so now we have to get used to it, but 10 years ago it wasn’t easy. So I think I was a little bit emotional for a second in that moment.” An early save settled his nerves but in truth he was a spectator for much of the game as City dominated and rattled off the chances. Sergio Aguero had a low shot fingertipped onto the post before we finally took the lead through Fernandinho’s driven shot from a tight angle. Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet made a string of fine saves and when Phillipe Coutinho hit a late equaliser it looked like another keeper would be remembered as the hero that day. “What a quality team [we had],” Caballero recalls. “And also, we couldn’t play with Kevin De Bruyne because he was injured. We played really well and we created a lot of chances. “I believe that we had a pretty good game and that we probably deserve to win that game in 90 minutes. “But I remember that Mignolet had a very good performance, saving their team, saving Liverpool, and many, many chances, many, many situations. If they win the game, probably he would be the MVP.” Without a winner in extra-time, the game went to penalties and Caballero, already with a reputation as a penalty stopper, had a chance to be the main man. He spoke to goalkeeping coaches Xabi Mancisidor and Richard Wright along with Hart, to discuss the penalties from the Liverpool players as well as get himself in the right frame of mind. They had done their research on the opposing penalty-takers which Caballero took on board. But City made a bad start with Emre Can scoring with a ‘panenka’ penalty before Fernandinho’s spot-kick struck the woodwork. Caballero says he then decided to trust his instinct as well as taking advantage of a slightly more relaxed attitude to getting a few inches advantage off the goalline. He guessed right to keep out Lucas Leiva’s effort to his left before Jesus Navas levelled for the Blues. “I had a discussion with Xabi when the game finished, and also with Joe and with Richard Wright about what we’re going to do,” he says. “I said to them, if I don’t save or I’m not close to the first one, like the stats show how the opponent takes the penalty, I will start to take my own decision. “Because I would like to have confidence in me and if we don’t win, or if I don’t save any penalties, probably I will be more happy with my decision than with the stats. “Can scored the first penalty in a totally different way that he used to kick penalties, and after that, I just tried to wait and follow. Follow my decision, my instinct, and I could save a few penalties. “Of course, it was another time, because the goalkeeper could go a little bit in front of the line. You know now is a different way of saving penalties, but I used to wait until the until the last moment.” Coutinho’s stutter-step didn’t fool Caballero as he saved the third penalty before Aguero coolly put City ahead. Lallana’s penalty was fiercely struck, low and firm to Caballero’s right, but he stuck out a strong arm to tip it away. Yaya wrapped up a 3-1 shootout win and fellow Argentines Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis to leap on their compatriot following his heroics. It was also special that Caballero’s father had travelled from South America to see his son play in England for the first time and witness his remarkable performance. “My family and my dad were there at the stadium,” he recalls. “I remember that because my father is not used to travelling from Argentina to England, so it was his first time. “It was something magical - something that a keeper dreams of. We dream to live it, you know. “When the score is a draw, for a keeper to save a few penalties is something bigger than anything.” He remembers that Oasis joined in the celebrations in the dressing room after the game but the players couldn’t go too wild with an important Premier League rematch against Liverpool at Anfield just three days later. But it’s afternoon that lives long in the memory not least for Caballero who is immensely proud of his contribution to the City success. “We have some something to tell to our family and the fans of City, and we wrote a little bit of a page in the story of Manchester City,” he says.