Southampton stun City to seal semi-final spot

Southampton claimed a surprising and well-deserved victory over Manchester City to book their place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.

Action: The Saints showed their game plan right away with Nathan Jones’ team aggressive and on the front foot from the very start. Duje Caleta-Car forced City’s designated cup goalkeeper Stefan Ortega into a fine save early on.

Southampton’s desire to win the ball back helped them open the scoring. Lyanco bombed forward from defence to intercept a pass in the 23rd minute and put in a low ball for Sékou Mara to score his first-ever Saints goal.

But the second goal was the real stand-out one. Moussa Djenepo spotted Ortega off his line after 25 yards out and whipped in a brilliant curling effort that the City goalkeeper couldn’t retrieve.

Pep Guardiola was forced into changes he probably didn’t want to make at half-time with Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké, and Kevin de Bruyne all coming on.

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Erling Haaland and Rodri both came with just over an hour gone but still, City looked off the pace going forward with Southampton putting in a fine defensive performance. 

In the 78th minute, City finally had their first real effort. A low ball by İlkay Gündoğan across the face of goal was met by Álvarez on the stretch but the forward couldn’t get sufficient contact on the ball.

It was about as close as the visitors got all game with Southampton booking their semi-final spot after an unexpectedly impressive performance.

Big Picture: As the old cliché goes, if Southampton performed as they did in the cup when playing in the league then they wouldn’t be in trouble. But perhaps this can be the turning point for Nathan Jones’ team who fully deserved their win.

Manchester City meanwhile looked oddly off the boil. Perhaps the Citizens were more focused on the weekend’s Manchester derby and expected little resistance from a Saints team who are currently bottom of the Premier League.

Man of the Match: Lyanco made the first goal and was a calm figure in defence throughout the game. Although in truth, you could give the award to any Saints player.

xG: Southampton (0.69) 2-0 (1.00) Manchester City

Stat of the Day: This was Pep Guardiola's first-ever loss in a domestic cup quarter-final after 15 attempts.

SEMI-FINALISTS! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/avZ4P2mkpj

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) January 11, 2023