Burton vs Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s second gear side stroll into Carabao Cup final
Burton Albion 0-1 Manchester City: Sergio Aguero's first-half goal may have seen City romp to a 10-0 win on aggregate, but Albion regained their pride in a valiant display
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Your support makes all the difference.It was never in the slightest bit of doubt but still Manchester City made absolutely sure of progressing to their fourth EFL Cup final in the space of six seasons, beating third-tier Burton Albion 1-0 in this semi-final second leg to record a 10-0 aggregate victory.
This was not the massacre of a fortnight ago. Far from it, in fact. Nigel Clough’s League One side troubled City’s mix of youth and experience on several occasions and came close to crowning their progression to the last four of this competition with a memorable goal.
Yet Burton ultimately failed to respond to Sergio Aguero’s sublime first-half finish which stretched City’s advantage over the two legs into double figures. Pep Guardiola’s side only fell short of equalling the all-time record League Cup aggregate win by one goal.
City will now face either Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea at Wembley next month for the first silverware of the season, while Burton can at least end a memorable cup run knowing they tested the reigning English champions in one leg at the very least.Burton would need to inflict a club-record defeat on City in order to progress, but could at least take solace from the fact their opponent’s heaviest-ever reverse came in this very town. The now-defunct Burton Wanderers celebrated an 8-0 victory on Boxing Day 1894.
Given City’s advantage, Guardiola had intended to name a number of academy players in his starting line-up, but could not due to their Under-21s’ Checkatrade Trophy quarter-final against Sunderland on Tuesday night.
The only debutant in the starting line-up was Ian Carlo Poveda, an England youth international of Colombian heritage who played schoolboy football with Jadon Sancho. Philippe Sandler, a 21-year-old summer signing, made his first start.
Burton made a fist of the opening stages, with Liam Boyce’s flick on the turn forcing goalkeeper Aro Muric into a save. Yet with the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne and Aguero named among the less-illustrious youngsters, City’s class was always to likely to tell.
That trio combined for the opening goal when De Bruyne’s through ball cut Burton’s backline to ribbons, releasing Mahrez down the right-hand side. Aguero still had much to do once he received the Algerian’s pull-back but faultlessly placed a low finish into the far corner.
Shortly after the re-start, a speculative 25-yard attempt by Burton’s Will Miller briefly concerned Muric until it dropped wide of the far post. The first half was otherwise as comfortable as the first leg for City, even if there was not the same flurry of goals.
Delph came close to doubling City’s lead on the night in the opening stages of the second half but could not convert Danilo’s delicate chip into the penalty area, scuffing his attempt wide of Bradley Collins’ goal.
Burton immediately countered and the Pirelli Stadium cried for VAR when David Templeton went to ground inside the box under Danilo’s challenge, yet referee Kevin Friend was not feeling generous and nor were his video assistants.
Just after the hour mark, Aguero should have converted City’s second but when found dead centre of goal and unmarked, he skewed a shot wide. It will stand as one of the worst misses of the Argentine’s career. At least it came now, when a mere 10 up on aggregate.
The miss would be Aguero’s final contribution of the night, with Gabriel Jesus introduced and De Bruyne replaced by Benjamin Mendy. Yet even though City were replacing star talent with star talent, Burton continued to have their moments and soon came within inches of levelling on the night.
The icy conditions underfoot had hardened as evening went on and tested both sets of players throughout, but they almost proved fatal for Sandler, who slipped while attempting to recover the ball inside his own penalty box.
When Muric failed to collect the loose ball from Boyce, it broke for Miller who pounced with a low, hard shot at the centre of goal. He was only denied by teenage centre-half Eric Garcia’s spectacular goal-line clearance.
Burton’s refusal to lie down and accept another beating deserved to rewarded but that would be the closest they would come to a consolation. They would lose, yes, but only by one and with their pride restored.
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