Manchester City came into this semi-final on the back of Saturday's 10-1 trouncing of Exeter City in the FA Cup third round, and though Newcastle posed a completely different challenge, the visitors took control of the tie. Pep Guardiola's side had to contend with a raucous St James' Park atmosphere and though they quietened the hostile crowd with their passing patterns in the first half, they did not manage to work any efforts on Nick Pope's goal. The Ghanaian appears to have settled in straight away and thought he had doubled his side's lead 10 minutes later when he flicked in an instinctive finish from Tijjani Reijnders' corner, but referee Chris Kavanagh disallowed the effort after watching a replay on the pitchside monitor.
Manchester City came into this semi-final on the back of Saturday's 10-1 trouncing of Exeter City in the FA Cup third round, and though Newcastle posed a completely different challenge, the visitors took control of the tie.
Pep Guardiola's side had to contend with a raucous St James' Park atmosphere and though they quietened the hostile crowd with their passing patterns in the first half, they did not manage to work any efforts on Nick Pope's goal.
But it was the travelling City faithful high up in the stadium that were dancing by full-time - new signing Antoine Semenyo tapping home the opener from close range for his second goal in as many starts since joining from Bournemouth on Friday.
The Ghanaian appears to have settled in straight away and thought he had doubled his side's lead 10 minutes later when he flicked in an instinctive finish from Tijjani Reijnders' corner, but referee Chris Kavanagh disallowed the effort after watching a replay on the pitchside monitor.
City staff - and those in the stadium - were left perplexed not only because Erling Haaland was judged to be offside, but because of the length of time it took for the decision to be made – there were five minutes and 30 seconds between the ball hitting the net and Kavanagh making his announcement to rule out the goal.
Haaland, meanwhile, made his first appearance in the competition in three years but the Norwegian's recent poor run of form continued and he has now failed to score from open play in his past six games, netting just one penalty during that sequence.
Substitute Rayan Cherki was twice denied by Pope after coming on, but the Frenchman swept in late on to complete a fine team move and give his side a vital two-goal cushion heading into the second leg.
City go into the return meeting at Etihad Stadium on 4 February with recent history on their side as they have progressed from their past six EFL Cup semi-finals and gone on to lift the trophy on each occasion.
They are now heavy favourites to reach Wembley again in this competition for the first time since 2021.
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Category: General Sports
