Manchester City 3-2 Aston Villa: Ilkay Gundogan comes off the bench to win Premier League title

They do not do things by halves, this football club. Not on the last day of the season. Not with the title in the balance.

Pep Guardiola called it. ‘If we don’t win, Liverpool win the league,’ he predicted. And he was right. Liverpool did their part, coming from behind to beat Wolves. Steven Gerrard did his part, too, his Aston Villa taking a two goal lead at the Etihad Stadium. And Manchester City? They looked to have blown it, again.

After the crushing disappointment against Real Madrid in the Champions League, they looked likely to become the first team to surrender the title, having led the table on the final day.

And then, arguably the greatest comeback of all. Greater than the Aguerooo moment. Yes, because the road back was so much harder. QPR were down to ten men that day, and already relegated. Villa are dangerous. Coached and peopled with the off Liverpool legend. And they were ahead by two goals.

One of the Reds’ legends had seen to that. Philippe Coutinho turning Aymeric Laporte inside out, after Ollie Watkins had beaten Rodri to a big goal goal-kick. There were 21 minutes to go. With the games as they stood, City needed three goals, if Liverpool so much as scored one. Which they duly did.

But it did not matter because here, the miracle happened. City scored three, to win. City scored three in the space of six minutes. City came back from 2-0 down for the first time since February 28, 2005 against Norwich. They were a different club, back then. Not long out of the third tier.

So this was remarkable. Truly remarkable. The last man to affect City like this on the final day of the season now has a statue outside the ground. Maybe Ilkay Gundogan will get one beside him. He scored two of the goals, the first and last. All were important, but Gundogan started the ball rolling, and then won the league.

The first came after 76 minutes. Raheem Sterling, like Gundogan a second-half substitute, crossed from the right and Gundogan met it with his head at the far post. Roars replaced the grumbling, muttering silence that had consumed the ground. Just three minutes later Rodri as good as side-footed the ball past stand-in Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen from 20 yards.

And then, with eight minutes remaining, the biggest goal of City’s season. Credit Kevin De Bruyne here. He spied that Villa didn’t have the ball under control and drove to win it. He then saw Gundogan lurking against at the far post. A cross begged for the simplest conversion. Gundogan delivered it. This was the football City had failed to play until it was almost too late. Clinical, straightforward, technically excellent. This was the football of champions. Where were they, for so long?