EFL Cup: Man City defeat Brentford to reach semis

Rayan Cherki’s thunderbolt strike helped Manchester City overcome Brentford to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

City, who had not reached the last-four of the competition since claiming a fourth triumph in a row in 2021, now wait to discover their opponents for the two-legged tie, with the draw being made later on Wednesday.

Brentford started brightly but could not capitalise and were then reliant on stand-in goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson to push away a rising effort from Cherki.

Having had a sighter at goal, the Frenchman gave City the lead just after the half hour mark.

The forward picked the ball up on the edge of the box, cut on to his right foot before unleashing an unstoppable effort high into the top corner of the net.

Before the goal, Brentford were left incensed when Abdukodir Khusanov received only a yellow card for tripping Kevin Schade close to the edge of the box. The visiting players argued their striker was through on goal but with no video assistant referee (VAR) in operation, the on-field decision from Sam Barrott stood.

Nico O’Reilly long range strike in the second half was straight at Valdimarsson, while at the other end Kristoffer Ajer’s arrowed drive was brilliantly pushed away at full stretch by James Trafford.

And City sealed progression in the next round as Savinho’s deflected strike on 67 minutes looped over Valdimarisson and landed in the back of the net to leave them one step away from another trip to Wembley.

This was already City’s fifth game in a relentless December, with two more Premier League to come to round off the year.

Victory over the Bees in treacherous conditions maintained their flawless record this month and Guardiola’s men are starting to look ominous having won six straight matches across all competitions.

This competition is likely to be fourth on the list of trophy priorities for City, as they sit two points adrift of Arsenal in the league and inside the top-eight in the Champions League group phase.

But after finishing last season without winning major silverware for the first time in eight years, the Carabao Cup could provide the first opportunity to put that particular record right, should they progress through the next round.

Former Lyon man Cherki is starting to settle in a City shirt and showed some silky touches of the ball, while his thumping goal was his fourth of the campaign.

With top scorer Erling Haaland left on the bench, teenager Divine Mukasa started up front and almost scored his first senior City goal by weaving in and out but striking his shot straight at the Brentford goalkeeper.

The one concern for City will be a possible addition to their list of unavailable players.

City are already without Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri who are both at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Jeremy Doku, John Stones and Rodri are out injured.

Guardiola will be hoping Oscar Bobb is not added to that list after hobbling off injured in the first half. His withdrawal brought the in-form Phil Foden off the bench and he almost scored a seventh goal in his last six games but saw a snapshot clawed away by Valdimarsson.

Boss Keith Andrews will be left wondering what could have been had the referee brandished a red card instead of yellow in the direction of Khusanov.

With no VAR available until the next round, Brentford had to accept Barrott’s decision and Andrews’ pleas towards the fourth official made no difference.

Mathias Jensen’s resulting free-kick was well struck but batted away by Trafford. The visitors were unable to find a way past City’s stand-in goalkeeper, and have now lost five of their last six meetings against City.

Brentford fell at the quarter-final stage for the second-consecutive season, having been beaten by eventual winners Newcastle last season.