Manchester City's Carabao Cup final win over Tottenham was attended by 8,000 supporters at Wembley; both clubs had 2,000 fans, with a further 4,000 for local residents and NHS staff; the final is a test event as the UK Government trial the return of fans
Sunday 25 April 2021 21:14, UK
There was no need for artificial crowd noise on Sky Sports on Sunday as Manchester City and Tottenham supporters made their voices heard in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
A week after the FA Cup semi-final between Leicester and Southampton welcomed a mixture of 4,000 local residents and key workers to Wembley, a total of 8,000 descended on the national stadium for City's showdown with Spurs.
There were 2,000 supporters from both clubs inside the stadium, with a further 4,000 tickets split between groups including Brent residents and NHS staff.
"It's fantastic, it's a joy to see them," Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards said before kick-off. "And they deserve it, it's been a long time coming, and hopefully we can give them a good game."
City went on the win their fourth straight Carabao Cup, with Aymeric Laporte's second-half header enough to separate the sides.
Asked about the return of supporters, Guardiola told Sky Sports: "It's much better, it's not full but it was enough. Good noise. Celebrating with them is much better."
City captain Fernandinho added to Sky Sports: "We deserved to win that game. I'm really proud. We're so happy to see them back in the stadium, congratulations for everyone."
Ahead of the game, Wembley Stadium's official Twitter account announced there were delays on the London Underground's Metropolitan and Jubilee lines before kick-off with supporters making their way to Wembley Park Station.
Gathering on Wembley Way before the match, some fans sported "Football is for the fans" scarves in light of both clubs joining and then withdrawing from the European Super League in the past seven days.
Meanwhile, other fans made their feelings known with banners inside the stadium, with one reading, "Fans, football, owners: In that order".
The Carabao Cup final is part of the UK Government's Events Research Programme, which is using such events "to collect evidence and collate best practice for managing and mitigating transmission risk," according to the EFL.
The World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield - which started last week and runs until May 3 - is also included in the trial.
Earlier this month, the FA said the plan was for 21,000 fans to attend the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leicester at Wembley on May 15.
That total would be considerably beyond the 10,000 limit for larger outdoor seated venues set to come into force in step three of the road map on May 17.
Meanwhile, the final weekend of the Premier League season is set to be played on May 23. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said last month that he hopes the final two fixtures of the season can see up to 10,000 fans in attendance.
Before attending, supporters were required to send off for a PCR Covid-19 test to take at home as close as possible to the game, and they should also take another test within five days after the match.
They also needed to travel to a lateral flow testing site for a further test before the match.
Proof of a negative result from that lateral flow test was needed to gain entry to Wembley and also to access either of the public transport options provided for travel to London from the north west.
