This Sunday Fábio Vieira completed the shot that gave Arsenal the conquest of the English Super Cup, in the penalty shoot-out (4-1) against three-time champions Manchester City, after having ‘disenchanted’ the 1-1 equality in the 90+11 minutes .
The Portuguese midfielder completed an irreproachable demonstration of the effectiveness of the Londoners in that form of tiebreaker, in contrast to the ‘citizens’, who missed two kicks, by the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne and the Spaniard Rodri, after having opened the scoring in the 77th minute, through forward Cole Palmer.
Arsenal equalized out of hours, 11 minutes after the 90, thanks to a lucky shot by the Belgian Leandro Trossard — used as a substitute, as was Palmer -, who was deflected by the Swiss Manuel Akanji and headed into the goal of the helpless goalkeeper. German nets Stefan Ortega.
The game is usually played between the English champions and the FA Cup winners, but, as City won both titles, as well as the Champions League, Arsenal participated as runners-up in the championship, starting the 2023/24 season how he would like to finish: overcoming his rival from Manchester.
The team coached by Spaniard Pep Guardiola will find encouragement in recent history, since in the previous two years they also lost the first trophy of the season, against Leicester, in 2021, and Liverpool, in 2022, and that did not prevent them from winning the most important titles.
Arsenal, who won the competition for the 17th time, a record only surpassed by Manchester United, with 21 trophies, initially lined up with three reinforcements, the German Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and the Dutchman Jurrien Timbre, while City opted only by Croatian Mateo Kovacic.
The Portuguese internationals Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva were totalists in the defense and midfield of the English and European champions, but it was Fábio Vieira, the most unlikely of the three, having entered only in the 87th minute, who proved to be the most decisive.
Rodri, scorer of the goal that won the Champions League last season, seemed willing to start the 2023/24 season in the same way, but the midfielder’s shot, the first sign of danger of the game, in the 14th minute, went slightly off next to the Arsenal goal.
The ‘gunners’, guided by the Spaniard Mikel Arteta, responded in the 25th minute, creating the best opportunity of the first half, with the German striker Kai Havertz shooting to save Ortega, who again won the duel with his compatriot, at 40.
Even before the break, Rodri tried to imitate Pedro Gonçalves, who scored a goal from midfield to goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the second leg of the round of 16 of the last Europa League, between Sporting and Arsenal, but the ball, this time, came out slightly over the bar.
Manchester City again proved to be more dangerous in the second half and, after ‘threats’ from John Stones and Palmer, the young striker even opened the scoring, in the 77th minute, with an irresistible arched shot, out of reach of Ramsdale.
The goalkeeper prevented the ‘citizens’ from increasing their advantage in the closing stages of the match, brilliantly opposing shots by Phil Foden and Rodri, and it was when it looked like the title could no longer escape the Manchester team that the goal came late by Trossard, at 90+11 minutes, taking the decision to a penalty shoot-out.
