Carabao Cup: Manchester City beat Leicester on penalties to reach semi-finals

Defending champions Manchester City overcame Leicester City 3-1 on penalties to reach the League Cup semi-finals after the game had ended on 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

Marc Albrighton had cancelled Kevin De Bruyne’s early stunner to take the game into the penalty shootouts. But Leicester missed three of their four spot kicks before Oleksandr Zinchenko fired the winner for City.

Christian Fuchs hit the opening shot over while James Maddison and Caglar Soyuncu had their tame efforts saved by City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.

Raheem Sterling was the only City player, who failed to convert from the spot.

City, who had De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero return from injuries, started well and took the lead when Belgian playmaker De Bruyne rifled a shot into the net from outside the area just 14 minutes into the encounter.

The visitors then had a great opportunity to double the lead in the second half when Riyad Mahrez found Aguero behind the Leicester defence but the striker’s shot was parried away by Danny Ward.

Leicester made them pay for the mistake in the 73rd minute with Albrighton found the top right corner from a superb pass from Wilfred Ndidi.

City then could have had a penalty five minutes from the final whistle after substitute Gabriel Jesus was stopped in his run by a last-ditch tackle from Hamza Choudhury. The incident initially looked a clear-cut penalty but replays suggested that Hamza had got a toe on the ball.

Burton Albion also reached the semi-finals after shocking Middlesbrough 1-0 with a goal from Jake Hesketh.

In what a remarkable feat, it was the first time in their history that Burton made it to the last-four stage of the competition. Hesketh was at the right place to slot home the ball from a rebound in the 48th minute.

In the other quarter-final matches, Arsenal host north-London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, while Chelsea welcome Bournemouth on Wednesday.

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