A Vincent Kompany thunderbolt has propelled Manchester City to the verge of another Premier League title but if the big centre back had listened to his teammates it never would have happened. WATCH THE VIDEO Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany said he had lived up to a vow to “one day” score a long-range goal after his wonder strike secured a 1-0 win at home to Leicester that left the champions in charge of the destiny of the Premier League title with a match to play. City were heading for a frustrating evening at the Etihad Stadium until Kompany let fly with a 25-yard shot into the top corner 20 minutes from time - the centre-back’s first City goal from outside the box. Victory saw City go top by a point from Liverpool heading into Sunday’s last round of league matches. “I hadn’t scored this season but I always feel in big moments that I’m going to do something, I don’t know if it’s a header or what,” Kompany told Sky Sports. “Today was a little bit of frustration, everyone was saying ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot’ and I could really hear it; I thought hold on a second, I’ve not come this far in my career for young players to tell me if I can take a shot, and I just had a go!” Vincent Kompany celebrates scoring for Manchester City. Picture: AFP Vincent Kompany’s goal helped Manchester City score a 1-0 win. Picture: Getty Images Kompany insisted: “I’ve scored goals like that in training. “It’s 15 years I’ve been in top-level football, midfielders telling me ‘don’t shoot, play the ball wide’ and every time they miss, for 15 years I’ve been saying ‘I promise you, one day 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’.” City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he too was among those who didn’t want Kompany to let fly from distance. “Don’t shoot! Pass the ball, pass the ball!,” said Guardiola when asked about his thoughts as Kompany took aim. “Honestly, I wasn’t too confident but football is mad for that. The artists are the players, they have to decide things in a fraction of a second and what’s important isn’t the goal, it’s him shooting while believing he was going to score. “He’s a big believer and that helped us to win the game,” the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added. Vincent Kompany and Josep Guardiola celebrate Manchester City’s win. Picture: Getty Images “Now we don’t have games every three days, he’s not young and to be consistent is difficult for him every three days, but when we have a game once every week, he’s an incredible player.” City will be assured of retaining the title if their result away to Brighton is equal or better to what Liverpool achieve against Wolves at Anfield. However, a win for Liverpool and anything less for City would see the Reds secure their maiden English championship since they last won the old First Division title in 1990. And Kompany warned: “It’s a big goal, we’ve not achieved anything but it was an important win against a very, very strong team.” Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who made several fine saves on Monday, said: “City are a top-class side, and we have lost to the potential champions. “I can’t see them losing their next game.”<doc-sep>Manchester City are back in the driver's seat ahead of the final day of the season after Vincent Kompany's long-range shot put the defending champions back on top of the table. (2:25) MANCHESTER, England -- Vincent Kompany admitted he ignored the advice of his teammates to score the winning goal that kept Manchester City's title challenge on track. City were struggling to find the breakthrough against Leicester City when the veteran City captain hit a stunning 30-yard strike to secure a 1-0 victory and keep their Premier League hopes in their own hands. "I could hear people saying: 'Don't shoot, don't shoot!'" the 33-year-old said. "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. "It's not about the amount of goals you score it's about when you score them. Today it was necessary." The goal came as a huge relief for Pep Guardiola's side, who had found it difficult to create many chances against Leicester until Kompany's 70th minute strike. City knew that any slip-up would hand Liverpool the advantage going into the final game of the season on Sunday, but the champions now know a victory at Brighton will see them become the first team to defend the Premier League title in 10 years. "From the very start we had the right intensity to try and win this game. Kasper [Schmeichel] made some important saves and only I could beat him on a day like today! I'm just trying to contribute and today we went one step closer," Kompany added. - Ratings: Kompany gets 9/10 with winner against Leicester - Williams: Helping City to title would be fitting end for Kompany "We were putting pressure on, upping the tempo but found the last pass difficult. They defended really well and it was going to take something special. I'm really happy for the team. This club, it's part of how we have been successful to have goals like this, moments like this. We always believe that we have a chance and can play for the last second. "Every step in the last four months was significant. Liverpool keep making the steps and now we have a final to play in Brighton. Nothing is won yet." Kompany, who has been at City for 11 years, is out of the contract at the end of the summer with talks set to take place at the end of the season over the possibility of a new deal. Guardiola described him as a club legend and says he deserves a new contract if he can maintain his fitness. "We spoke with him and his agent. At the end of the season we are going to talk to him clearly," Guardiola told a news conference. "He is an incredible human being and he has helped me a lot. "Always I was sad I could not use him too much but we have always known we could count on him for his personality. "This club is what it is because of people like Vincent. At the end of the season, after the FA Cup we will decide the best for both parties." The City boss also said he is taking nothing for granted with three points still required to fight off the challenge from Liverpool. "We have one game left, and it will be so tough like today," he added. "We are away and we saw Brighton had a good game at Arsenal. But it is in our hands, don't forget but we could have been 10 points behind if we lost to Liverpool here. "We were seven points behind, but we are in the last game and it is in our hands. We are going to prepare well. "We'll see if Brighton defend deep or will be more offensive. It will be tough, but hopefully we will have the performance to be champions."<doc-sep>Perhaps Gary Neville put it best in his commentary role from the television gantry: “Where do you want your statue, Vincent Kompany?” It was, without question, the goal of a lifetime from the Manchester City captain and the rewards will be measured in silver if his team can extend their winning 13-game sequence by just one more match. It is simple now: a win at Brighton on Sunday and there will be nothing Liverpool, a point behind in second position, can do about it. No wonder every single player made a beeline for Kompany at the final whistle. One by one they embraced the Belgian. They were soon joined by the substitutes, various members of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff and the tracksuited players who were not in the squad. Everyone went to the same player. And then it was Guardiola’s turn, with a bear hug for the man who may just have struck the decisive blow at the top of the table. Kompany might not get a statue – not yet, anyway – but his fourth championship winner’s medal from his 11 years at the club would make up for that, one imagines, and, if the trophy does remain in Manchester, there can be no doubt how people will remember the defining moment of the title race. There were 70 minutes on the clock when Kompany took possession of the ball and started loping forwards. Nobody in a Leicester shirt went to close him down because, well, it was Vincent Kompany, and he was not going to shoot, was he? Yet they underestimated him. Kompany took the ball into striking range and pulled back his right foot to take aim. It was a mix of desperation and inspiration, all in one. His shot was still rising as it flew past Kasper Schmeichel into what is known, in the parlance of the sport, as the “postage stamp”, just beneath the crossbar at its join with the post. It was the 100th home goal City have scored in all competitions this season. Brilliantly it was the first time Kompany had tried a shot from outside the penalty area since 2013. Sergio Agüero later told Kompany he had been shouting for him not to shoot. “Everyone was telling me the same,” Kompany clarified. Yet the ball was struck with curve and spin so it was arcing away from Schmeichel. It was struck majestically. And in that moment, amid all the euphoria and the unmistakable feeling we were watching the champions-in-waiting, suddenly it did not seem to matter it had been such a stodgy performance from Guardiola’s team. Kompany certainly knew the significance of that goal: he was in tears as he walked round the pitch at the end to thank the crowd for their backing. He and his teammates had toyed with the emotions of those supporters. It was anything but straightforward for the reigning champions and, until Kompany decided to take matters into his own hands, it was shaping up to be a potentially calamitous evening. Pep Guardiola and Vincent Kompany embrace after the match. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA It still might have been but for Kelechi Iheanacho, their former player, squandering Leicester’s outstanding chance of the night, three minutes from the end of normal time. Iheanacho was clean through on goal, with the ball on his favoured left foot, after Hamza Choudhury had picked out his run and, for a split-second, there was a pained silence inside the stadium as everyone waited to see where his shot would end up. It was not even close and, 40 miles or so away on Merseyside, a devastating miss for the Liverpool supporters watching on television. Leicester had been difficult opponents for a team defending the league title. Guardiola’s team are never quite the same when they are missing Kevin De Bruyne. Fernandinho was also on the list of notable absentees and early on, when an onslaught might have been anticipated, it did not happen. The crowd was flat, twitchy, waiting for something to materialise. The players were flat, too, with the honourable exception of Bernardo Silva, who seemed utterly determined to lift everyone around him. By half-time, there had been only one occasion when Schmeichel had been seriously called into action. Agüero’s header had struck the underside of the crossbar, direct from a corner, but could conceivably have spun over the goal-line had it not been for Schmeichel, mid-air, clawing the ball away. Leicester looked relatively comfortable otherwise, as well as being lively on the break, and though the home crowd occasionally took out its frustration on the officials, it would not have been out of the question for the referee, Mike Dean, to show David Silva, of all people, two yellow cards, rather than just one, in that period. Kompany escaped with a booking for a wild challenge on James Maddison and that, again, demonstrated how the home side were not playing with their usual control. The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email Something had to change if the players in light blue were not to blow the league title. Guardiola removed Phil Foden in the 56th minute, bringing on Leroy Sané, and that meant the team operating in a 4-2-4 formation. The full-backs, Kyle Walker and Oleksandr Zinchenko, had the licence to power forward and gradually it became the kind of match that might have been expected earlier on: one side doing virtually all the attacking, the other pinned back. Even then Leicester still had promising moments on the counterattack, not least when Harry Maguire’s run from defence led to Maddison firing narrowly wide from 20 yards. Schmeichel saved again from Agüero but the home side’s momentum was building. Then the ball was at Kompany’s feet and, in that moment, he produced the reminder that big players like to contribute big moments. Kompany has provided plenty of them over the years but this one was the pick of the lot. He will never strike a sweeter shot.<doc-sep>O Captain! My captain! Vincent Kompany scored the precious goal that propelled Manchester City towards retaining the Premier League title. It was a goal for the ages, a goal that will be replayed time and time again. It was also a goal he was urged not to attempt, with his team-mates, led by Sergio Aguero, shouting at him not to shoot. “I told you Vinny don’t shoot, no Vinny, no,” the grinning forward was later caught on camera saying to the defender as he was mobbed in congratulations. It was Kompany’s own Aguero moment, a moment even more important than the goal the centre-half scored for City back in 2012 when his header beat Manchester United and helped them win the Premier League for the first time. Finally it comes down to this: if City beat Brighton away on Sunday in their final league game they will have 98 points and they will be champions. There is nothing Liverpool, at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in a fixture which can take them to 97 points, can then do to stop them. In this most incredible of title races it took an incredible goal to beat Leicester City, who had proved so obdurate and organised, on a fraught and edgy evening at the Etihad. However, it almost had an even more remarkable twist. Former City striker Kelechi Iheanacho made a hash of a late chance, shooting wide when well-placed. In truth, he should have scored. Instead it was Kompany’s first goal of the season that settled it. It came as he collected a square pass from Aymeric Laporte and strode forward, taking two touches and ignoring his team-mates to unleash a fierce, right-footed drive from 30 yards that brushed over the right shoulder of Harry Maguire, swerved away from goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and kissed the underside of the crossbar before nestling into the top corner of the net.<doc-sep>
(CNN) Manchester City returned to the top of the English Premier League after a scintillating strike from Vincent Kompany secured a vital 1-0 win against Leicester City. With the hosts struggling to find a way past a stubborn defense, the club captain stepped up to send the Etihad Stadium into a frenzy with a stunning shot from distance with just 20 minutes left on the clock. With his side now just one win away being crowned champions, the goal promises to be yet another iconic moment in this incredible title race. Pep Guardiola's team can secure its consecutive title, at the expense of Liverpool, if it wins against Brighton on Sunday. An emotional Kompany demonstrated just how important the goal was after a nervy night in Manchester. The Citizens were frustrated for much of the match by an impressive Leicester side which managed to snub out the host's impressive array of attacking talent. However, when the game looked to be heading toward a goalless draw, Kompany sent a missile into the top corner. "I hadn't scored this season but I always feel in big moments that I'm going to do something, I don't know if it's a header or what," Kompany told Sky Sports after the game. "Today was a little bit of frustration, everyone was saying 'don't shoot, don't shoot' and I could really hear it. I thought hold on a second, I've not come this far in my career for young players to tell me if I can take a shot, and I just had a go!". Time and time again Kompany has stepped up to inspire Manchester City to victory in big games. He must now be considered as one of Manchester City's greatest ever players. His strike secured Manchester City's 13th consecutive victory in the league and was its 100th goal at home this season. Kompany had tears in his eyes at the full-time whistle. Nervy night Having had eight days to rest since its last match -- a narrow win over Burnley -- Manchester City started the game at a typical high tempo but it was an intensity matched by its visitors. Leicester City has been rejuvenated under new manager Brendan Rodgers -- winning five out of nine games since the former Liverpool manager replaced Claude Puel in February -- and looked sharp during the early stages of the match. However, just as the home crowd began to grow restless, Sergio Aguero reminded everyone of his team's infinite attacking talent as he almost gave his side the lead. The Argentine powered his way to the front post to meet a corner with a flicked header that rebounded off the woodwork, before goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel cleared off the line. Goal-line technology, which had awarded the hosts the winning goal in its last game, showed just how fine the margins are in this season's title race. Despite a sustained period of pressure from Manchester City, an entertaining first-half ended goalless giving hope to Liverpool fans across the globe. The second-half started in a similar vein, with the hosts dominating but failing to get the better of a resolute Leicester back line. In search of the breakthrough, Guardiola rolled the dice and sent on Leroy Sane as part of a front four which initiated an all-out assault on the Leicester goal. Aguero once again came agonizingly close before Kompany defied the odds with one of the moments of the season. Sergio Aguero had his effort cleared off the line in the first-half. Down to the wire The result sets up a mouth-watering prospect for the last day of the season, with Manchester City just one point ahead of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. The Reds must win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and hope Manchester City drop points away at Brighton. Such has been the form of both teams this season, the side that finishes second will have amassed the most points of any runner-up in Premier League history. "We are in the last game and it is in our hands. We are going to prepare well," Guardiola told BBC Sport after the match. "We'll see if Brighton defend deep or will be more offensive. It will be tough, but hopefully we will have the performance to be champions."