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Manchester City have progressed to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for the first time since winning the competition back in 2021 after beating Brentford 2-0, which included a stunning opener from Rayan Cherki.
But the game was not without incident as, before Cherki’s excellent opener, Brentford felt as if Abdukodir Khusanov should have seen red for a last-ditch foul on Kevin Schade. Referee Samuel Barrott had a perfect view of the incident and only deemed it to be a yellow card offence, with VAR not in operation.
“It was poor defending from Khusanov,” said Andy Hinchcliffe on Sky Sports’ live coverage. “It was a clear foul, he was in on goal. For me, it should have been a red card.”
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Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov was lucky to escape a red card for bringing down Brentford’s Kevin Schade as he raced through on goal
Instead of being buoyed by the perceived injustice, though, the Bees fell disappointingly flat, unable to test stand-in goalkeeper James Trafford – who received a vote of confidence from Pep Guardiola before the game after becoming unsettled since losing his place to Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Eventually Keith Andrews’ side woke up only to be sucker-punched by Savinho midway through the second period, linking smartly with Phil Foden before sending a looping, deflected shot over the top of a stranded Hakon Valdimarsson. What looked a tricky assignment on paper turned out to be comfortable in reality, with much-changed City joining Chelsea in the final four.
They are set to play a staggering nine matches across four different competitions during a packed January schedule, including Premier League meetings with Chelsea and Manchester United.
