Manchester City reach the EFL Cup Final for a 4th year in a row by beating Manchester United at Old Trafford

 

Ruben Dias and John Stones have formed a magnificent parternship at the back

Just 25 days after this two sides from Manchester played out a dull and goalless draw which has already become a memory, the two faced again for the second time in two years in the Semi Finals of the EFL Cup as the two meet in last Season's semi final as well which City won 3-2 on aggregate.

The last 5 EFL Cup had been won by these two sides with United knocking out City and winning it in 2016-17 while City had won in 2015-16,2017-18,2018-19,2019-20.

A month ago both of them were still trying to find their form but came into this game with impressive results in the previous Matchweek. United are now on 2nd spot just behind on Goal Difference with Liverpool with a game in hand. Meanwhile City are 5th, 4 points behind the Red Devils with 2 games in hand.

There was a moment of silence before the kickoff in the memory of City Great Colin Bell who had passed away on Tuesday.Both Teams also wore black armbands in his memory.

The game had a fierce start with both teams having found the net inside 5 minutes only for the Offside Flag to cancel out both the goals. Rashford's shot was saved by Steffen but found the knee of Ruben Dias and went in but Rashford was offside when the ball was played.

Soon Foden released a low cross which was turned in by Gundogan but like Rashford was a fraction early and was in an offside position and the goal was disallowed.

The first real chance of the game came to United's Bruno Fernandes when his curling effort was superbly saved by Zach Steffen. 

City had their first big chance to score in the 13th minute but were denied by the woodwork after Kevin De Bruyne rifled a right footed shot from 20 yards out which beated keeper Dean Henderson but slammed the post and came back in to get cleared.

City once again had the ball in the back of the net, this time from a splendid solo run from Phil Foden but was again ruled out for Offside as he was released by Zinchenko.

The Real Breakthrough came in the 50th minute through a free kick. Foden lofted a ball at the back post and the ball was kneed in by John Stones to score his first goal in over 1162 Days after he scored in a Champions League match against Napoli in 2017.

The game was sealed in the 83rd minute when Wan Bissaka's headed clearance fell straight to City Captain Fernandinho who volley his effort from his right foot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. This was his first goal in over 2 years. Talk about picking a time to score a goal.

City will now face Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspurs and will be looking for a 4th Straight Carabao Cup Titles in April.

Post a Comment

0 Comments