It was just past the hour mark during Manchester City’s game against Leicester that captain marvel and club legend, Vincent Kompany, decided to take matters into his own hands. With the deadlock yet to be broken and City a mere 20 minutes away from handing the initiative back to Liverpool in the title race, Kompany unleashed a rocket into the top corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal.
Viewers around the world would have been in two minds as to who had actually just scored, a defender striding forward from deep, it couldn’t have been Kompany, could it? The man whose last shot on target from outside the box was in 2013?
Sure enough, as the cameras panned around to the man of the moment, all was revealed as Kompany indulged in a celebration the world has seen before, sprinting away, arms pumping up and down as if he were lifting weights with his head raised to Manchester’s night sky.
Drink it in… pic.twitter.com/qwcly7ILeT
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 6, 2019
The euphoria pulsating around his entire body is a feeling only the Manchester City captain can try and describe because very few, if any, will ever know what he felt like once that ball had successfully evaded Schmeichel’s outstretched hand, as well as the crossbar. Speaking afterwards, Kompany said he felt that he was going to score when he woke up on the day of the game, and whilst it’s an easy thing to say after doing so, nobody should doubt what he is saying as anything but the truth.
Indeed, the 33-year-old has a habit of scoring when City’s superstars can’t quite get it right after the heat has been turned up. If you cast your mind back to 2012, it was Kompany who rose highest in first-half stoppage time to score the only goal of the game in the Manchester derby. That was a result that would set City up for their first Premier League title (with a little help from Sergio Aguero against QPR of course).
Back in May 2014, it was once again captain fantastic that prodded home a loose ball in the box during a game against West Ham. This came on the last day of the season and it would see City win their second title in three years. Without Vincent Kompany’s goals, City may not have been able to wrestle the historic advantage away from Manchester United and then also go on to conquer the rest of the Premier League over time. To understand the role that Kompany has played in turning City into world beaters, you have to look back at his most crucial goals for the club and then ask, would things be the way they are today without Vincent Kompany?
The Belgian’s strike looks to have sealed back-to-back Premier League titles for Manchester City, as the Citizens look destined to finish on 98 points with Liverpool set to miss out, even after accumulating 97.
It will be a bitter pill to swallow for Jurgen Klopp and his team but there may be light at the end of the tunnel after all for the Reds, as they are now favourites at 4/9 in the latest Champions League odds to win the competition after knocking out Barcelona during a jaw-dropping comeback at Anfield. Even so, If you were to walk the streets of Liverpool, you would find that the trophy the supporters most wanted was the Premier League one, but it looks like Kompany’s screamer will prolong the agonizing wait for another league title in Liverpool.
“I could hear people saying ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!’. I’ve not come this far in my career to have young players tell me when to shoot!
“For 15 years, I’ve told people I’ll score one like that”
– @ManCity match-winner @VincentKompany pic.twitter.com/8vgN6KKUWm
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 6, 2019
Perhaps it was said best by an unlikely voice during the immediate and raucous commotion following the City skipper’s goal, when Gary Neville, in between breaths, screamed: “where do you want your statue, Vincent Kompany?!”
