Manchester United won the battle, but Manchester City won the war.
Looking to overcome a 3-1 first-leg deficit, Manchester United got a fabulous first-half goal from Nemanja Matic but that was all, earning a 1-0 victory in the game but failing to keep Man City from advancing to the Carabao Cup final via a 3-2 aggregate score. Man City was dreadful in front of net in a game they likely could have scored three or more goals, but after Matic was sent off with 15 minutes remaining, it wasn’t to be for the Red Devils.
The hosts had a big chance early on as Sergio Aguero got through behind the United defense and headed on frame inside the opening 10 minutes, but David De Gea made a spectacular diving save to keep out the Premier League’s second-leading scorer. Aguero tested de Gea again in the 17th minute with a shot destined for the top-right corner, but the Spaniard got up to his left this time for another fingertip save.
Manchester United struck first in the 35th minute as Nemanja Matic delivered a venomous volley off a free-kick, burying the chance on the Red Devils’ first shot of the game. The set-piece delivery from Fred came from the left flank and swung out, coming off the head of the first man Bernardo Silva and falling right to Matic near the top of the box who leg-whipped the ball off the inside of the post.
City had the equalizer in the back of the net before halftime as Raheem Sterling latched onto a Kevin De Bruyne cross, but Sterling and Aguero behind him were both offside by a significant margin and the flag correctly went up to nullify the strike.
After halftime, Sterling again had a massive opportunity but couldn’t cash in on the hour mark. Charging on the break, Sterling got past Victor Lindelof and could have taken an early shot, but with de Gea charging and closing him down, Sterling panicked and failed to pinch off an effort. Instead, with de Gea crawling along the ground and defenders scrambling back, there was no room to shoot and eventually his effort was much too late and skied over the bar.
Manchester United looked compact after the halftime break, often packing in and preventing Man City shots from good areas just by sheer numbers behind the ball. De Gea was forced into another good save as he kept out a vicious long-distance Kyle Walker effort, punching it away against his body diving to the right. Somehow, City again came up empty in the 73rd minute after forcing a bad Harry Maguire turnover, but David Silva didn’t take the blatant wide-open chance, instead passing to Ilkay Gundogan who was closed down by two scrambling defenders and unable to get a shot off.
While it seemed United was right in the match, they fell down to 10 men after Nemanja Matic – already on a yellow card – chopped down Gundogan on the break and earned himself an early shower. Referee Kevin Friend had clearly already spoken to Harry Maguire about Matic, saying he was on his last warning. It was all City from there, and while Aguero couldn’t finish their best chance on 84 minutes thanks to the offside flag, they saw out the match to advance on aggregate.
Man City fails to score for the first time in 26 games across all competitions, but despite that they still advance to take on Aston Villa at Wembley, hoping to earn its fourth League Cup title in the last five years.
