Manuel Pellegrini: Man City Cup win can inspire domestic Treble
Chief football writer Manuel Pellegrini hopes Manchester City's Capital One Cup final victory over Sunderland can inspire his players to complete a historic domestic Treble.
City won 3-1 at Wembley to give Pellegrini his first trophy in England.
They face Wigan in the FA Cup quarter-finals and are also in the thick of a battle for the Premier League title.
City's cup-winning coach
•A defender, Manuel Pellegrini spent his entire playing career at Universidad Chile, making more than 450 appearances
•Retired in 1986 and took his first managerial role the following year at Palestino
•Has taken charge of 10 teams in total including Villarreal (2004-09), Real Madrid (2009-10) and Malaga
•Won league titles in Ecuador and Argentina and the Intertoto Cup with Villarreal in 2004
"To win the first trophy is important for us all. For the players, for me and for the staff," said Pellegrini, who replaced Roberto Mancini in the summer.
"We are the only club with the chance to try to win all the competitions. We are going to try although we know it is not easy."
City face Wigan in a repeat of last season's FA Cup final, which the Latics won 1-0, in the quarter-finals of this year's competition at Etihad Stadium next Sunday.
They are fourth in the Premier League and six points behind leaders Chelsea, but have two games in hand on Jose Mourinho's team plus Liverpool and Arsenal in second and third respectively.
No club has ever won all three domestic trophies in one season, and Pellegrini thinks winning the Capital One Cup will give his side "a lot of confidence".
They could yet win a quadruple, but must overturn a two-goal deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
Pellegrini said: "When you have the chance to win a trophy and you don't, you may not go out with your mind the same way.
"We have Wigan first. We have respect for them - remember what happened in the FA Cup final - but we are going to try and do it."
The Chilean said he tried to keep his players calm after Fabio Borini gave Sunderland a deserved half-time lead, and was rewarded as goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas gave City the win.
"I told them they had 45 minutes to change the score," said Pellegrini. "Maybe what happened in the FA Cup final was in their minds in the first half but the most important thing was to calm the players."
Analysis - Robbie Savage
BBC football pundit "You have got to give Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini credit for his half-time team talk. Their second-half display was in stark contrast to their performance in the first 45 minutes.
"City's quality ultimately shone through, but it was a terrific final and Sunderland certainly played their part. And Yaya Toure's goal? That's one of the best goals you will ever see at Wembley. A real moment of magic. That is why Yaya is one of the best players in the world."
City captain Vincent Kompany said his team-mates should be "hungry" for more success.
The Belgium international said: "We've achieved something great for the club and we need to carry on.
"I was delighted to win this trophy at Wembley. It's the best stadium, for me it's the best in Europe, maybe even the world, and lifting the trophy here is something special."
France international Nasri believes his side could still win the quadruple.
"We want to win everything," Nasri said. "We're going to compete for the league, for the FA Cup, and we're going to try and make something happen in the Champions League - it's going to be difficult."
Ivory Coast midfielder Toure added : "We needed to win. It was very important. The final is only one game and you need to enjoy it - but you need to win."
Man City kick off League Cup celebrations as huge fan Noel Gallagher joins the party
Manchester City's stars gave supporters a behind the scenes glimpse of the what the euphoric Wembley dressing room looked like following the Capital One Cup triumph before kicking off the celebrations with Noel Gallagher.
The former Oasis star posed for a photo with City frontman Sergio Aguero on Sunday night - and the Argentine was delighted to be pictured with one of the club's most famous fans.
Posting the picture on Twitter, Aguero tweeted: 'With Noel Gallagher!!'
Aguero's team-mate and countryman Pablo Zabaleta also posed for a snap with the High Flying Birds singer. The Argentinean described Gallagher as a 'top man' in his tweet.
Manuel Pellegrini's side came from behind to beat Sunderland 3-1 on Sunday to clinch the first silverware of the season.
Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri notched twice within two minutes to turn the final on its head after Fabio Borini's early strike.
Jesus Navas added gloss to the win as stoppage time approached, and City's players were understandably jubilant once Martin Atkinson blew for full-time.
Victorious skipper Vincent Kompany took to Twitter to post a group picture of the squad alongside the trophy.
But he wasn't the only one.
Sergio Aguero featured in his first game since January and played a part in the second goal before being hooked by the manager. He had a proud thumb up next to the silverware.
Alvaro Negredo and Aleksandar Kolarov also tweeted snaps of themselves clutching hold of the trophy.
The togetherness was there for all to see, with players not picked or injured looking as pleased as those who were handed a starring role.
Pellegrini will need that spirit in the coming weeks.
City have ground to make up in the Premier League and need to turnaround a two-goal deficit away at Barcelona in the last-16 of the Champions League if they want to progress in Europe.
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More bollox later after a couple hours more kip ... my head hurts!
