O'Reilly scored his first goal for the England under-16s against Northern Ireland on 3 June 2021, in a 6–0 win. A few months later, he scored his first goal for the England U17 side, in the 88th minute of a 2–2 draw away against Slovakia on 21 October 2022.

On 6 September 2024, O'Reilly made his England U20 debut during a 1–1 draw away to Turkey. On 29 August 2025, O'Reilly was called up to the under-21s.

On 6 October 2025, O'Reilly received his first call-up to the England senior team after Reece James withdrew from the squad with injury. He was an unused substitute in England's 3–0 friendly win over Wales at Wembley Stadium on 9 October.

He made his England senior team debut during a 2–0 win over Serbia at Wembley Stadium.

Thus, Manchester City won the 9th League Cup in its history (first since 2021) at Wembley in the presence of 88,000 fans, while Pep had his 5th. The Gunners had two goals.

In the 7th minute, we had the first chance of the match and it was a triple for Arsenal, but the young Trafford goalkeeper beat Havertz and Saka. Those who expected the match to continue at the same pace were not justified, as the tactics prevailed. The Gunners, under pressure, retreated, leaving City with 75% possession but no corridors and phases. The Citizens had to wait until the 45th minute to see a good moment and this was the Norwegian forward Erling Haaland with a header after feints and a cross from Semedo from the right.

The second half had a similarity and a difference from the first. City managed to do the damage. In the 50th minute, Basque goalkeeper Kepa escaped a red card for marking Belgian winger Jeremy Doku. However, in the 60th minute, he lost the ball through his hands after a cross from French midfielder Ryan Serki and O’Reilly had an easy task with a header from close range. Before Arsenal could even recover, they conceded a second goal as 4 minutes later, Mateus Nunes crossed and Nico O’Reilly headed home again to make it 2-0.



In the last part of the match, Arsenal came out more aggressively, had their moments, but were unlucky. In the 78th minute, the diagonal shot of the Italian defender, Calafiori, hit the post and went wide, and in the 88th minute, the English international winger Noni Madueke crossed and after the effort of the Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus and an intervention by James Trafford, the ball went back to the goal and the score in favor of City remained until the end.

Arteta is upset

Upset, he really wanted it, after all, Arsenal's Spanish coach, Mikel Arteta, appeared, who a few minutes after the League Cup final, gave the slogan to his players again, with the background of what is to come:

"Congratulations to Manchester City! We were better in the first half and they in the second. I'm very upset for our fans. I knew what they wanted from us and we didn't manage it. This saddens me. But now we need to rekindle the flame within us so we can have an amazing two months ahead of us!”

City’s success

Meanwhile, City, in their 10th appearance in the competition’s final, celebrated their 9th trophy, making them the second most successful team in the competition, behind only the multi-victorious Liverpool with 10 victories.

Pep Guardiola’s team last reached the top of the League Cup in 2021, when they beat Tottenham 1-0 in the final. City “entered” this year’s League Cup from the 3rd round, as one of the Premier League teams with European obligations, and overcame the “obstacles” of Huddersfield, Swansea, Brentford and Newcastle, in order to reach the final.

* Since 1967, the finals have been single-elimination and have been held at Wembley.

* From 2001 to 2007, they were held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

* Until 1997, a replay was scheduled for matches that ended in a draw (including extra time).

THE GOLDEN BOOK OF LEAGUE CUP FINALS:

1961 Aston Villa-Rotherham 0-2, 3-0 (aug.)

1962 Norwich-Rochdale 3-0, 1-0

1963 Birmingham-Aston Villa 3-1, 0-0

1964 Leicester-Stoke 1-1, 3-2

1965 Chelsea-Leicester 3-2, 0-0

1966 West Brom-West Ham 1-2, 4-1

1967 QPR-West Brom 3-2

1968 Leeds-Arsenal 1-0

1969 Swindon-Arsenal 3-1 (aug.)

1970 Manchester City-West Brom 2-1 (aug.)

1971 Tottenham-Aston Villa 2-0

1972 Stoke-Chelsea 2-1

1973 Tottenham-Norwich 1-0

1974 Wolves-Manchester City 2-1

1975 Aston Villa-Norwich 1-0

1976 Manchester City-Newcastle 2-1

1977 Aston Villa-Everton 0-0 (aug.), 1-1 (aug.), 3-2 (aug.)

1978 Nottingham-Liverpool 0-0 (aug.), 1-0

1979 Nottingham-Southampton 3-2

1980 Wolves-Nottingham 1-0

1981 Liverpool-West Ham 1-1 (a), 2-1

1982 Liverpool-Tottenham 3-1 (a)

1983 Liverpool-Manchester United 2-1 (a)

1984 Liverpool-Everton 0-0 (a), 1-0

1985 Norwich-Sunderland 1-0

1986 Oxford-QPR 3-0

1987 Arsenal-Liverpool 2-1

1988 Luton-Arsenal 3-2

1989 Nottingham-Luton 3-1

1990 Nottingham-Oldham 1-0

1991 Sheffield Wed.-Manchester United 1-0

1992 Manchester United-Nottingham 1-0

1993 Arsenal-Sheffield Wed. 2-1

1994 Aston Villa-Manchester United 3-1

1995 Liverpool-Bolton 2-1

1996 Aston Villa-Leeds 3-0

1997 Leicester-Middlesbrough 1-1 (a), 1-0 (a)

1998 Chelsea-Middlesbrough 2-0 (a)

1999 Tottenham-Leicester 1-0

2000 Leicester-Tranmere 2-1

2001 Liverpool-Birmingham 1-1 (a) 5-4 on penalties

2002 Blackburn-Tottenham 2-1

2003 Liverpool-Manchester United 2-0

2004 Middlesbrough-Bolton 2-1

2005 Chelsea-Liverpool 3-2 (aug.)

2006 Manchester United-Wigan 4-0

2007 Chelsea-Arsenal 2-1

2008 Tottenham-Chelsea 2-1 (aug.)

2009 Manchester United-Tottenham 0-0 (4-1 on penalties)

2010 Manchester United-Aston Villa 2-1

2011 Arsenal-Birmingham 1-2

2012 Liverpool-Cardiff 2-2 (3-2 on penalties)

2013 Swansea-Bradford 5-0

2014 Manchester City-Sunderland 3-1

2015 Chelsea-Tottenham 2-0

2016 Manchester City-Liverpool 1-1 (3-1 on penalties)

2017 Manchester United-Southampton 3-2

2018 Manchester City-Arsenal 3-0

2019 Manchester City-Chelsea 0-0 (4-3 on penalties)

2020 Manchester City-Aston Villa 2-1

2021 Manchester City-Tottenham 1-0

2022 Chelsea-Liverpool 0-0 (10-11 on penalties)

2023 Manchester United-Newcastle 2-0

2024 Liverpool-Chelsea 1-0 (agg.)

2025 Newcastle-Liverpool 2-1

2026 Arsenal-Manchester City 0-2

THE WINNERS

10 trophies: Liverpool

9 trophies: Manchester City

6 trophies: Manchester W.

5 trophies: Aston Villa, Chelsea

4 trophies: Tottenham, Nottingham Forest

3 trophies: Leicester

2 trophies: Arsenal, Norwich, Birmingham, Wolves

1 trophy: Newcastle, Swansea, West Brom, Middlesbrough, QPR, Leeds, Stoke City,

Luton, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon, Oxford, Blackburn.