Noisy neighbours finding their voices again as Man City reach Cup final

There was no question of what this League Cup semi-final meant to everyone at Old Trafford - especially the victors

Manchester City players celebrate in a group after the Carabao Cup semi-final win at Old Trafford. Picture: Peter Powell

Reports of the demise of the Carabao Cup, and of Manchester City’s desire to win trophies, were both proven to be exaggerated on a night which showed the noisy neighbours are not in the mood to quieten down after all.

Pep Guardiola’s side, whose celebratory huddle at the final whistle underlined their joy and togetherness on a night when they mourned club legend Colin Bell, set up a fascinating final against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham and dealt a significant blow to his derby rivals in the process.

This is a competition which has been living on its nerves for several years now, fearing it could soon face the chop; which is a sentence that has also dogged Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But there was no question of what it meant to everyone at Old Trafford, and especially the victors.

The giant smile on Guardiola’s face, both hands held high above his head, and the on-field celebrations in front of him as Fernandinho scored City’s vital, match-winning second goal told the entire story. The Spaniard may have won just about everything since arriving from Bayern Munich but right now, in a slow season, he needs the glint of silverware more than ever.

For opposite number Solskjaer, still waiting for his first trophy as manager at Old Trafford, the pain was just as clear. To lose here was a bitter blow at a time when he has reinvigorated his team in the Premier League and silenced critics who felt he would never be able to bring consistency to a club which also badly needs a trophy.

The FA Cup and Europa League, maybe even the Premier League if you are being optimistic, still remain there to win, but this was the biggest opportunity for the Norwegian to start his own managerial collection — after all, he sum total so far is a league and cup with Molde in Norway, if you don’t include trophies won as United’s reserve team manager a decade ago.

It’s remarkable the way this League Cup has consolidated its place in the football calendar, and in the affection of fans and managers, in a year in which many people called for it to be scrapped. That list included, unofficially, senior figures at Uefa but also Guardiola himself in an on-the-record interview in January 2020. The City manager had recently seen his side lose 1-0 to United in the second leg of the semi-final (but go through 3-2) when he was asked about fixture congestion.

Manchester City's Fernandinho scores his side's second goal of the game. Picture: Peter Powell

In that week, a year ago, in which both Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane suffered injuries, Guardiola was quick to blame fatigue and offer a solution.

“Eliminate competitions, take out the League Cup,” he said. “Less games, less competitions, less teams, more quality, less quantity. People can live without football for a while. It’s too much.”

That attitude didn’t prevent his team going on to beat Aston Villa in the final at Wembley, of course, but it did make you wonder whether the Spaniard would take this season’s edition as seriously, especially given the fixture congestion due to the late start and ongoing pandemic. But we needn’t have worried.

City, who have wobbled in the Premier League, have nevertheless continued to field strong teams in Carabao Cup and the competition has, surprisingly, delivered under scrutiny. The EFL was brave enough to tweak the rules, doing away with replays, extra-time and two-legged semi-finals — and the result has been enjoyable.

On Tuesday, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho described his side’s semi-final against Brentford, who had beaten four Premier League teams in their run to the last four, as the most important match of his time in charge of Spurs so far, and you can’t get better backing for the competition than that. It was, of course, enough to convince Tottenham’s notoriously flaky players to put in a strong performance and reach the final in comfortable style.

The intensity in this end-to-end derby, certainly showed that the cup which everybody used to deride, really means something this season in Manchester, too.

Goodness knows how the first half ended goalless given the pace and passion with which both sets of players approached it, leading to three offside goals and a thumping shot from Kevin de Bruyne which struck the woodwork when it seemed destined for the net.

City, in particular, continued that pace in the second half and deservedly went ahead through John Stones before creating a string of opportunities to put the tie to bed. They were matched shot for shot by their rivals, however, with the result in doubt until Fernandinho’s well-struck shot sealed victory.

That’s four semi-final defeats in all competitions in a row for Solskjaer, by the way, and four successive League Cup finals for Guardiola; and it shows that CIty are back — as even United legend Roy Keane admitted.

"I thought CIty were outstanding," he said. "We questioned them over their desire, intensity, and hunger. but they showed all that tonight. It was a proper performance. I don't want to be too hard on United because they came up against a good team and City deserved it. For a team that has had so much success, to see what it meant to them to get to that final was incredible."