Kepa Arrizabalaga scored but made a notable mistake as Arsenal lost to Manchester City at Wembley and missed out on the Carabao Cup.
Kepa Arrizabalaga’s mistake cost Arsenal a place in the Carabao Cup final
Kepa Arrizabalaga was consoled by both goalkeepers at full time after knocking Arsenal out of the final as Manchester City won the Carabao Cup.
The Spaniard continued to play between the Gunners’ sticks during their run to the final at Wembley, but dropped a second-half cross to allow Nico O’Reilly to open the scoring.
The City left-back doubled City’s lead just four minutes later, clinching his first trophy of the season with a dominant second goal. The first goal of the afternoon, always decisive, was ultimately due to a mistake by Arsenal’s goalkeeper.
However, at full-time every goalkeeper took a minute to go and console Kepa. David Raya sat on the bench for Arsenal, while James Trafford started for City. Gianluigi Donnarumma was also on the bench.
Kepa suffered several heartbreaks in the Carabao Cup final. In 2019, he was part of the Chelsea team that lost on penalties to Guardiola’s side, and in 2022 they again lost on penalties, this time to Liverpool.
read more: Man City win Carabao Cup, Nico O’Reilly extends Arsenal’s trophy drought – 5 talking pointsread more: Josep Guardiola issues a stern warning at Wembley just minutes into the Carabao Cup final
The former Blue moved to Arsenal in the summer but had to accept a substitute role for Raya, who is undoubtedly No. 1 at the Emirates. We were lucky to avoid an even bigger penalty just before conceding the first goal. He went for a long ball but misjudged and had to pull Jeremy Dok. He was given a yellow card instead of being sent off.
Former gunner Ian Wright told Sky Sports that Kepa’s mistake “cost us”. The Spanish goalkeeper has yet to make 10 appearances this season, but Arteta continues to have faith in him. At City, Trafford started the game ahead of Donnarumma and maintained his place in second place.
The Spaniard dropped a cross into the path of Nico O’Reilly, who opened the scoring.
Jamie Redknapp has slammed Arsenal’s decision to stick with Kepa despite having Raya ready to win trophies. He said: “Kepa is not as good as Raya, so he is your number two. So why did you decide to play him in a major final, when you are about to cross the line, when you haven’t won a trophy for this long?”
“He has to take responsibility for that. It’s a big mistake. I’m not saying he’s a bad goalkeeper, but he’s not as good as Raya. On the flip side, you could say Trafford isn’t my number one either, but he made three big saves and then he was hardly tested.”
Arsenal’s defeat was their fourth in a row in the Carabao Cup final, previously known by its other name. They lost to City in 2018.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check it out whenever you like. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
