Manchester City hope for one last Wembley masterclass from Toure

Manchester City head to Wembley on Sunday where they will face Liverpool in the Capital One Cup final. The tie is the first showpiece occasion of the season and offers both clubs a chance to land the first trophy of the campaign.

City have made Wembley a home-from-home in recent years. This will be their eighth trip to the national stadium since 2011. Most of their visits have been successful – they’ve lost two Community Shield games there, though those are by the by. The club have only suffered real heartache once in that time; that came in the 2012 FA Cup final against Wigan Athletic when the Latics won 1-0 with a last gasp header from Ben Watson.

One player in particular has become synonymous with Wembley success; Yaya Toure has produced three golden moments that are etched in the hearts and minds of the City fan base for the rest of time.

16th April 2011 – FA Cup Semi-final – Yaya defeats Manchester United

This might sound like a grand statement but bear with it; the strike that sent City into the 2011 FA Cup final was one of the most important goals in the club’s history and formed the foundation for all that has come since.

That’s not to say that success wouldn’t have come without it – the current trophy-laden era is a natural by-product of good management of the club’s vast wealth. However, City were a club without recent experience of success. No major trophies had been added to the honours list for 25 years. By contrast, their neighbours and most-hated rivals were one of the biggest clubs in the world, winning trophies with great regularity.

For City to instill a real winning mentality, they needed a significant victory over United. When Toure intercepted an errant pass from Michael Carrick and slotted the ball past Edwin Van Der Sar, he elevated the club to a new status. That one goal was enough to win the match; City proved to the world and, more importantly, themselves, that they belonged on the big stage. Not only that, but the Ivorian had taken the first step in proving himself to be the ultimate big-game player.

11th May 2011 – FA Cup Final – Yaya delivers the FA Cup

Beating United a month earlier might have demonstrated that City were good enough to beat the best teams in the country on the huge occasions, but for it to result in any tangible success they had to overcome Stoke City.

The Blues were by the far the best team on the day but things were getting tense as the game edged towards the final stages with the deadlock unbroken. They were finally rewarded for their dominance in the 74th minute when Yaya Toure pounced on a loose ball ten yards out to smash the ball low past Thomas Sørensen. The goal was scored at the City end and sent the hoards of Sky Blue clad supporters into absolute ecstasy. Stoke were never likely to have enough about them to come back from that blow; Yaya had provided a moment that generations of fans had dreamed of. The FA Cup win was not solely down to Toure, but in the crucial moments he had been clinical and cool enough to deliver the defining goals.

2nd March 2014 – Capital One Cup Final – Yaya magic draws City level

The cup final against Sunderland wasn’t going too well for the Blues. Fabio Borini had put the Black Cats ahead after ten minutes and City had failed to show anything like their best. However, football can turn on one moment of magic and that is exactly what Toure produced in the 55th minute.

With City probing and building slowly, Toure knocked the ball right to Pablo Zabaleta then stood alone, unmarked, around 30 yards from goal. When Zabaleta rolled the ball back to the midfielder, nobody anticipated what was coming next. Toure took one step backwards to steady himself then, with one touch and striking across the ball, he bent a powerful, spinning and dipping shot over Vito Mannone and into the top corner. The goal defied belief and is etched into folklore as one of the finest cup final goals of all-time.

It set the tone for what was to come; Samir Nasri scored another stunning goal just a minute later to give City the lead and Jesús Navas wrapped it up late on. Without Yaya’s moment of genius, City might never have mounted a comeback.

The game against Liverpool is likely to represent Toure’s last Wembley appearance with City. His midweek performance and super strike against Dynamo Kiev will inspire confidence that he can once again be decisive on the big stage for City. Yaya Toure deserves to shine at Wembley one last time.