Man City captain Kompany says he ignored teammates advice before scoring long-range stunner to hand defending champs 1-0 win over Leicester; Pep's men go atop EPL table with one game left
Manchester City's Vincent Kompany (right) shoots past Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to score the winner during an English Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Monday
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany said he had lived up to a vow to one day score a long-range goal after his wonder strike secured a 1-0 win at home to Leicester that left the champions in charge of the destiny of the Premier League title with a match to play.
City were heading for a frustrating evening at the Etihad Stadium on Monday until Kompany let fly with a 25-yard shot into the top corner 20 minutes from time - the centre-back's first City goal from outside the box. Victory saw City go top by a point from Liverpool heading into Sunday's last round of league matches.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kompany celebrates with his kids after the match. Pics/Getty Images
Big moment for Vincent
"I hadn't scored this season, but I always feel in big moments that I'm going to do something," Kompany said. "Today was a little bit of frustration, everyone was saying 'don't shoot, don't shoot' and I could really hear it; I thought hold on a second, I've not come this far in my career for young players to tell me if I can take a shot, and I just had a go!"
Experience counts
The Belgian last hit the target from outside the area back in 2007, but Kompany insisted: "I've scored goals like that in training! "It's 15 years I've been in top-level football, midfielders telling me 'don't shoot, play the ball wide' and every time they miss, for 15 years I've been saying 'I promise you, one day I'm going to have a shot from outside the box and I'm going to score a goal and you're going to be really happy with that one'." City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he too was among those who didn't want Kompany to let fly from distance. "Don't shoot! Pass the ball, pass the ball!," said Guardiola when asked about his thoughts as Kompany took aim.
"Honestly, I wasn't too confident but football is mad for that. The artists are the players, they have to decide things in a fraction of a second and what's important isn't the goal, it's him shooting while believing he was going to score. He's a big believer and that helped us to win the game," the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added.
Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
