Mbwana Samatta thanks Aston Villa teammates for warm welcome

The 27-year-old became the first Tanzanian to score at Wembley when he headed past City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo on Sunday.

Although it wasn’t enough for Villa, – who went on to lose 2-1 – Samatta emphasised the importance of the team, rather then personal achievements, as he praised the squad for their support since his January move from Genk.

“I just wanted to win the cup. Better than scoring is to win the cup,” he said.

“I just try to be available, we [Samatta and Anwar El Ghazi] spoke before the game and when I saw him running, I tried to get into the box and it was a perfect cross.

“It always gives you confidence when you score.

“It all comes from the group, they try to help me because I’m a new player and I try to adapt very quickly to help the team.”

After strikes from Sergio Aguero and Rodri put City 2-0 ahead, Dean Smith’s side fought back with Samatta scoring before half-time.

Bjorn Engels almost forced the game to extra-time when his effort hit the post late on and Samatta insists the club can take the positives into the Premier League.

“Everybody is confident and there is positive energy,” he added.

“We played a very good game and if we take that into our next games, it will help us a lot, to continue like this.

“We will stay focused, we still have a lot of games to play and I’m sure that if continue to play like we did, we can get positive results in the next games.”