VINCENT KOMPANY SAYS that Monday’s moment felt like one where he needed to step up as the defender scored the winning goal against Leicester City to move Manchester City one step cloeser to the Premier League title.
With just 20 minutes remaining in the match, Kompany fired a long-range missile that left Kasper Schmeichel helpless as the Belgian defender picked out the top corner with a shot from outside the box.
That gave City a 1-0 lead, one which they protected until the very end to move within a win of a second consecutive Premier League triumph.
Kompany, who hadn’t scored a goal yet this campaign, says that he is frequently told not to shoot from those scenarios but, given the moment, the City captain knew it was his time to step up.
“Desire, belief. It’s like you said, I didn’t score this season, but I always feel in big moments like this that I’m going to do something,” he told Sky Sports. “I don’t know whether it’ll be a header or what it’ll be. Anything.
“Today there was a little bit of frustration because everyone was saying ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot!’ — I could really hear it.
“It was annoying me and I said: ‘hold on a second’ – I haven’t come this far in my career for young players to tell me whether I can take a shot or not. So I just took it!
“All I’m going to say is I’ve scored goals like that in training.
“You know what? It’s a funny story because it’s 15 years of top-level football and I always hear midfielders saying ‘don’t shoot, play the ball wide’ – for 15 years!
“I said to them: ’One of these days 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’. And today it happened.
“It’s a big goal. We haven’t achieved anything but it was an important goal against a very, very strong team.”
With Kompany’s goal, a Manchester City win on Sunday against Brighton will be enough to secure the team’s second consecutive Premier Leauge title.
Any dropped points, though, open the door for Liverpool, who take on Wolves in their final match.
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