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Manchester City marched their way to the Carabao Cup trophy with an emphatic yet hard-fought victory over Chelsea in a tight fixture that went down to penalties.
They were made to hit a blank by the Blues, who built the strongest of fences in front of their goal to keep Pep Guardiola's side at bay for 120 minutes. Chelsea did have the better chances over the course of the game, while Manchester City threatened mainly through three attempts from Sergio Aguero.
Late drama unfolded at Wembley surrounding Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, but Manchester City found the back of the net on four of the five occasions in the shootout, and thus went on to lift the trophy.
It was probably the most well-contested affair with a lot of tactical approaches used by either boss. But in the end, it was all about holding the nerves.
On that note, let's take a look at the major talking points from Manchester City's win over Chelsea.
#5 Maurizio Sarri speaks out a different tactic with his line-up
Maurizio Sarri usually frustrates the Chelsea fans these days with his starting line-ups, as Jorginho, Marcos Alonso and Willian, who have largely been scrutinized, very often walk out of the tunnel before the first whistle.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was doubtful for the fixture owing to a hamstring injury, but he formed the last line of defence. The mainstays of the back line - David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta - started the penultimate fixture, while Emerson came in for under-fire Alonso, who was not even named on the bench.
Jorginho was recalled to the base of midfield, alongside him stood N'Golo Kante and Ross Barkley. In recent times, the latter has shown how good he can be in the final third, with his passes, link-up play and spectacular goals in the Europa League round-of-32, and hence, he was preferred over Mateo Kovacic.
But what raised a whole slew of eyebrows would have been the front three, that didn't comprise either Gonzalo Higuain or Olivier Giroud. Willian and Pedro operated the wings, and Chelsea's talisman - Eden Hazard - spearheaded the attack as a false nine.
That was certainly to contain City's attacking threat through Willian and Pedro, who cover out the middle third in order to avoid many passes into their centre-halves.
#4 Manchester City hog the ball, Chelsea aim to cancel early danger
Chelsea and Manchester City are arguably the best possession-based footballing sides in the world. No other outfit in European football perhaps keeps the ball as well as the two sides, but at Wembley, the equation was extremely different.
Much to the frustration of Chelsea fans, the Blues set up very defensively, committing as many bodies behind the ball, crowing either flanks and thereby forcing more passes down the middle and not into the box.
The Premier League champions established complete control over the ball, so much so that Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte played in the number 8 positions. They held over 70% of the ball and took the attack to the opposition.
Tactically, Chelsea mopped the sting out of City's attacking prowess, as the first shot of the game came in the 22nd minute when Aguero's volley blazed over the bar.
Chelsea had a couple of chances to break forward, but the lack of a focal point ruled out the 'out-ball', and the fact that they were defending very deep in their own half sucked out their usual outburst of innovation.
#3 Half chances for both sides but the battle of minds continues after the break
Manchester City got us underway in the second half, but nothing else changed as Chelsea continued to lock down spaces while Guardiola and co. kept knocking at the opposition back line.
Vincent Kompany, probably the most influential figure in the whole of Manchester, was asked to lead the side post the break, mostly to impose more motivating juices and marshal the back four.
Hazard was once played in by Emerson down his most favoured left side, but a heroic standing tackle from Nicholas Otamendi kept the Belgian out.
Down the other end, Raheem Sterling teased Azpilicueta and on the back of that passage of play, the ball ricochet down the middle, before Aguero found the back of the net. Rightfully, he was ruled offside, by both the assistant and VAR.
N'Golo Kante though, had the best chance of the game - an opportunity that went begging to the ashes. Hazard was once again through on the left, and he did extremely well to leave Kompany rooted to the ground. The star man cut it back for Kante, who wrapped his side-foot around the ball but slashed it over.
#2 Chelsea take it to Manchester City as the game approaches extra time
After all, Manchester City are human. They were clearly displaying nerves of purpose, but this time along with those of apprehension.
As such, Chelsea, who were made to work their socks off and cover every blade of grass, got forward on a number of occasions to actually create better chances.
Against the run of play, Hazard was played in once again. He wriggled past a couple of challenges, weaved into the heart of Manchester City's defence, but instead of taking it on from the available space, he played it in for Pedro. The Spaniard should have fired a shot, but he decided to be too cute by cutting it back to his provider.
As a result, the chance was spurned. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, moments later, produced a brilliant piece of skill in midfield to create space. He played a through-ball to Hazard, who was inches off.
What is to be noted is that Kompany's substitution wasn't helping City defensively, as they were constantly being pegged by Chelsea down their skipper's corridor.
#1 Ederson outsmarts Chelsea in the shootout
The match then went to extra time with Chelsea having registered the better chances. Sergio Aguero had the best chance to break the deadlock in added time, once when he forced Kepa at full stretch from outside the box, and the other from four yards out.
Somehow, a save from the keeper and a block from skipper Azpilicueta kept the score line to 0-0. A bizarre incident surrounded the Chelsea custodian, who appeared to have a cramp just before penalties, but refused to go off, much to Sarri's exasperation.
Jorginho stepped up for Chelsea first up, and his hop-and-stop run-up, which seemed to be decoded by Ederson, was easily thwarted. Manchester City scored their next two spot-kicks, between which Azpilicueta fired one in.
On the back of major stoppages and interventions, Kepa flew across brilliantly to deny Sane, but David Luiz only struck the bar. Ederson, although saved two massive efforts, was only outfoxed by the cool of Eden Hazard.
Raheem Sterling sent City to the title with a winning penalty.
