Vincent Kompany told chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak that he wanted to leave Manchester City in the immediate aftermath of his stunning winner over Leicester in the 2019 title run-in - and then both of them kept the news from Pep Guardiola.
Kompany left City after a glittering 11-year spell, with the inspirational captain calling time on his association with the Blues after helping them to an unprecedented domestic treble. The Belgian will be remembered most for his long-range goal over Leicester to move City above Liverpool in the 2019 title race with one game to go.
City would go on to win the title on the final day at Brighton, with the FA Cup following a week later in the 6-0 hammering of Watford that would prove to be Kompany's last game.
Talking to former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, Kompany has revealed how he bumped into the chairman after the Leicester game, but wouldn't tell Guardiola until he knew he would start the FA Cup final.
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Discussing the Leicester goal with Neville on his Overlap channel, Kompany said: "It was nice, everything landed the way it was supposed to. It was my last game at the stadium. I remember after the game I saw the chairman.
"He was the first person I told. I'd made my mind up but then it was a confirmation. I told the chairman, I said: 'Khaldoon, this is it.' I told him I can't do better than this. We'll win the league, we'll win the FA Cup, that will be it. He was the first person I told, It was an emotional time."
Khaldoon would keep his secret, and Kompany would wait until the eve of the cup final to tell Guardiola and his then-assistant Mikel Arteta, using the news to guarantee his place in the starting line up at Wembley.
"I ran into him first. I didn't want Pep to not play me in any of the other games either," Kompany revealed.
"He knew I wanted to say it in my own time. I told Khaldoon first, but I ran into him and it was the perfect time. He was going to fly back to Abu Dhabi, I wasn't going to see him again, this was the time.
"It wasn't a priority as well, we had the Brighton game to win the league, we did that, I thought it's still not the right time. Then the day before the Watford game - I know Pep in finals or he feels the team is stronger he might put you on the bench - I went to him and said: 'I've got to play tomorrow.' I never said it, but tomorrow I've got to play, it's my last game.
"Then we had an emotional discussion after that. Pep and Mikel, they were preparing for the Watford game and I came in with some unexpected news. But everything was right, everything happened in the right way."
Asked what was his favourite goal, Kompany said his 2012 title race winner over United was better than the Leicester strike, saying: "United. Definitely. It meant so much more, the last goal goes top corner but I'm telling my players not to shoot from there.
"The United goal, the pressure of the game was not like anything I've experienced. That game and probably my first World Cup game for my country, that's the most pressure I've ever experienced. For it to come together, that day [United] didn't have a shot."
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