Manchester City secured the 2025-26 Carabao Cup title with a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on March 22. This is Pep Guardiola’s nineteenth trophy in his ten years as the head coach of Manchester City. Since coming to Manchester City from Bayern Munich on July 1, 2016, Guardiola has won it all in England as well as in Europe.

In ten years, Pep Guardiola has won six Premier League titles, five League Cups, three Community Shields, two FA Cups, one UEFA Champions League trophy, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup. Manchester City have now won the Carabao Cup nine times in the club’s history, and only Liverpool has won more with ten titles.

Pep Guardiola’s fifth Carabao Cup victory means that he has now overtaken Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough, and Jose Mourinho as the manager with the most title wins in the competition's history.

Brian Clough won four EFL Cup titles with Nottingham Forest. He won the competition back-to-back in 1978 and 1979. He also won the title in 1989 and 1990.

Sir Alex Ferguson won four EFL Cup titles with Manchester United. He won his first in 1992 and then his second in 2006. Ferguson also secured back-to-back title wins in 2009 and 2010. Jose Mourinho won three EFL Cup titles with Chelsea in 2005, 2007, and 2015 and won one at Manchester United in 2017.

With a win over Arsenal, Manchester City have nine Carabao Cup trophies, and Pep Guardiola has become the only manager with five Carabao Cup titles.

Pep Guardiola’s dominance in the Carabao Cup

In the season's Carabao Cup final, Nico O’Riley scored twice in the 60th and 64th minutes to seal Manchester City’s victory over Arsenal. The closest Arsenal came to scoring a goal was when Ricardo Calofiori and Gabriel Jesus both hit the woodwork in the dying moments. However, as they failed to score and win the game, their trophy drought continues.

Arsenal last won a trophy in 2023, the FA Community Shield against Manchester City. In terms of winning a major trophy, it was back in 2020 when they won the FA Cup. Now Arsenal are on a six-year trophy drought under manager Mikel Arteta. Besides that, Arsenal have lost all four finals in the League Cup and now hold the record for the longest run of final appearances without winning the trophy in the tournament's history.

Guardiola won his first Carabao Cup title in 2018 against Arsenal. Goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, and David Silva gave Manchester City a 3-0 win over Arsenal. In 2019, Manchester City beat Chelsea on penalties to clinch the title. Manchester City defeated Aston Villa 2-1 in 2020 to win their third Carabao Cup title under Pep Guardiola. Sergio Aguero and Rodri scored in the finals to secure the win.

In 2021, Manchester City secured a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the final. The match winner was scored by Aymeric Laporte in the 82nd minute. In 2026, Manchester City beat Arsenal for the second time in the final to bring the Carabao Cup back to the club.

Pep Guardiola has worked his magic at Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City and is considered arguably the best manager in this generation.

Also read: Arsenal's losing streak in Carabao Cup finals hits record low