On This Day: Liverpool & Man City won EFL Cup; Milan keeper Donnarumma was born

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (February 25th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!

On this day in 2018, Man City thrashed Arsenal 3-0 in EFL Cup Final

Sergio Aguero gave City an 18th-minute lead when he took full advantage of Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi's feeble challenge to latch on to keeper Claudio Bravo's goal-kick and loft a cool finish over David Ospina.

Arsenal were toothless apart from one early opening when Kyle Walker stopped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the six-yard area and the contest was effectively over when man-of-the-match Vincent Kompany swept in Ilkay Gundogan's cross-shot just before the hour.

David Silva put the final flourish on City and Guardiola's day with a powerful shot past Ospina before City closed out the most routine of victories.

On this day in 2001, Liverpool won EFL Cup on penalty kicks

Playing before a crowd of 73,500 at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium, Liverpool took the lead with a 30th-minute strike from their homegrown hero, forward Robbie Fowler, who deftly beat the Birmingham keeper with a world class shot from 25 yards out.

The trophy appeared to be Liverpool's when Birmingham received a lifeline courtesy of Liverpool center back Stéphane Henchoz, who, in the dying moments of regulation, fouled Birmingham midfielder Martin O'Connor in the box. Center back Darren Purse converted the 90th-minute penalty kick, sending the match into extra time.

The sides swapped chances in extra time, but were unable to score. In penalties, they were even at 4-4 after five shooters, with Liverpool's Sander Westerveld and Birmingham's Ian Bennett saving one shot each. Jamie Carragher then put Liverpool ahead 5-4, when Birmingham forward Andy Johnson stepped up to the spot. He sent a timid kick to his right, easily saved by Westerveld to give Liverpool the win - their first major trophy since previously winning the League Cup in 1995.

On this day in 2009, Juninho scored THIS against Barcelona

On this day in 2016, Rashford burst onto the scene with two debut goals

On 25 February 2016, Rashford was a late addition to the Manchester United starting line-up for their UEFA Europa League round of 32, second leg tie against Midtjylland after Anthony Martial was injured in the warm-up; Rashford marked his first-team debut with two goals in the second half of a 5–1 win. Rashford's goals made him Manchester United's youngest ever scorer in European competition, beating a record previously held by George Best.

On this day in 1912, Alcántara scored a hat-trick for Barcelona on his debut

Born in Iloilo City in the Philippines in 1896, the striker began his youth career in Spain with FC Galeno before joining Barcelona in 1912. He was just 15 years, 14 months, and 8 days old when he made his first appearance--against Català in the Catalonian Championship--making him the youngest player to debut with the Barcelona first team. Not content to settle for that record, he also contributed three goals in the 9-0 win, making him the club's youngest goalscorer and youngest player to net a hat-trick.

Apart from a brief break from 1916 to 1918 when he returned to the Philippines, Alcántara remained with Barcelona until his retirement in 1927. During that period, he won five Copa del Rey titles and ten Catalonian Championships. He finished his Barça career with a record total of 357 goals in 357 games. That remained the club record until Lionel Messi broke it in 2014. 

Alcántara became a doctor after his retirement, but went on to become a coach (he briefly managed the Spanish national team), then returned to Barcelona as a member of the club's board of directors.

On this day in 1999, Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was born

Donnarumma began his career with Milan in 2015, becoming the second-youngest goalkeeper ever to debut in Serie A, aged 16 years and 242 days; he immediately broke into the starting line-up, earning a reputation as one of the most promising young goalkeepers in the world. He also broke the record as the youngest Italy under-21 player ever to play, aged 17 years and 28 days in March 2016. Six months later, he made his senior international debut, becoming the youngest goalkeeper ever to appear for Italy, aged 17 years and 189 days.

Long considered one of Italy's most exciting prospects, and one of the most promising young footballers of his generation, Donnarumma is widely regarded as the successor to Gianluigi Buffon. Buffon himself has in turn praised the teenager's physical strength and technical abilities, mental composure and decision making.

On this day in 1981, Park Ji-sung was born

Park began his football career in his native South Korea and played for the Myongji University team before moving to Japan to play for Kyoto Purple Sanga. After Park's national team manager Guus Hiddink moved back to the Netherlands to manage PSV Eindhoven, Park followed him to the Dutch side a year later. After PSV reached the semi-finals of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, Park's talents were recognised by Sir Alex Ferguson and he signed Park for a fee of around £4 million in July 2005. In his time at United, Park won the Premier League four times and also won the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

Park received much acclaim at Manchester United for his work rate and energy which saw him deployed all over the midfield, including in the middle of the pitch and on both wings, where he operates as a "defensive winger". He was also known as something of a "big game player", as he was often used by Sir Alex Ferguson in big league games or European games where there was an extra emphasis on defensive work.