Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City progressed to the Carabao Cup final despite losing 1-0 to rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday late night. Nemanja Matic’s goal wasn’t enough for Manchester United as Cityzens cleared the semifinal with a scoreline of 3-2 on aggregate. Manchester City will now face Aston Villa at Wembley in the finals.
The Reds bow out of the #CarabaoCup on aggregate.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2020
The game was initially kept alive from David de Gea as he did produce some splendid saves in the initial 15 minutes of the game where Sergio Aguero and Riyad Mahrez looked like adding to the Manchester City’s tally. However, following the pattern against stronger and tough teams, Manchester United scored against the run of the play. Nemanja Matic scored a stunning volley reacting to Fred’s free-kick. He connected the volley which scraped pass through Claudio Bravo at the near post.
Trying to reduce the deficit, Manchester City ran on counters to score the goal. However, Raheem Sterling’s goal was ruled out for offside just before the half time. After the break, with a grittier intention, Manchester City sent waves of attack. They had a perfect opportunity to equalize in the 59th minute but Raheem Sterling sailed the ball over the post.
Once again, Manchester City got a chance to equalise when David Silva was unmarked and had the ball. Rather trying to shoot, he went on to pass it to Ilkay Gundogan who failed to get a shot on target. Also, Aguero’s goal was ruled out for outside when he netted the ball in the last 15 minutes. On the other hand, Manchester United spent the last 15 minutes with 10 players on the field as Nemanja Matic was sent off for the second yellow.
A defeat on the night, but our Old Trafford display did the trick! 🙌
Tonight's stats… pic.twitter.com/svo38u6PFt
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 29, 2020
After losing the match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was unhappy at the standard of refereeing and went on to rant about it the press conference when asked. He said:
“Of course it’s hard to go here and score a goal here with eleven, let alone ten.
Never a sending off. Absolute, for me, a joke. It’s ironic really that he gets a yellow card for his first foul, almost gets a yellow for his second which wasn’t a foul, and yes the last one is a yellow card but nowhere near us.
“How many times did they foul us? How many times was Dan James fouled. In the first half, Jesse.
“For me, it shouldn’t be like this because I’m so proud of the players, they’ve beaten City now twice in six weeks at their place. We’ve come so far with these boys. They’ve given us absolutely everything.”
🗣️ "It was a fantastic effort from the boys – they're giving us absolutely everything."
Manager reaction 👇 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/slRYH6eg85
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2020
Manchester United are out of Carabao Cup and their hopes of adding the Silverline to one of their poorest campaigns till now is diminishing. Manchester United have the possibility of winning the FA Cup and Europa League but it is difficult to win it. Can Manchester United add a trophy to their cabinet?
