- It’s Manchester United 3 Charlton 0
- As Newcastle hit Leicester City 2-0
With two late strikes by their star striker, Marcus Rashford, Premiership side, Manchester United made this Carabao Cup quarter-final far more attritional than they might have due to Erik ten Hag’s shuffling his team selection.
Having an eye on Saturday’s 189th derby with Manchester City meant the manager sent out a weakened XI but they still kept up their bid to end United’s six-year trophy drought alive in the competition.
Charlton Athletic had arrived at Old Trafford as the hopefuls from two tiers below but ended the game 3-0 losers on the night that their goalkeeper, Ashley Maynard-Brewer, showed impressive form to keep United at bay until injury time via Rashford’s two late strikes.
United swarmed all over their visitors in the match Manager Ten Hag kept A-listers Rashford, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, David de Gea, and Luke Shaw on the bench while handing the 17-year-old Mainoo a debut. The Stockport lad operated in advanced midfield before the 9,000 Addicks enthusiasts who made the trip from south-east London for their biggest game since the triumphant 2019 League One playoff final.
Out-of-favour captain Harry Maguire also made a rare start, initiating the sequence that ended with Antony’s opener. His sweeping right-left diagonal was taken by Malacia, Fred was found, and when he tapped to the Brazilian a curving left-foot 20-yard peach beat Keeper Maynard-Brewer.
Charlton showed why they are a mid-table League One side, coming up second-best in pace, invention, attack, and execution as they were pinned back, hopeful of a breakaway they might convert. But it was all United: on 33 minutes Aaron Wan-Bissaka was introduced for an injured Dalot, then Fred crashed a free-kick off Maynard-Brewer’s left post, before, at the other end, Morgan, from a similar 25-yard dead ball position, missed to Heaton’s right.
As the interval arrived United’s possession nudged above 70% and their shot count was at nine so their slender advantage was a poor return, something Ten Hag may well have told them, particularly as Heaton had to save from Fraser in first-half added time.
With the minutes ticking away, United needed to either steady the contest or score again because the visitors were no longer being cuffed aside. Ten Hag plumped for the former by bringing on Casemiro for Mainoo, Rashford for Antony, and Eriksen for Fred. By sending for the cavalry, he indeed achieved his aim of finally putting Charlton away given that while trailing by only one goal, Dean Holden’s men had retained serious hope of stretching the game into penalty shootouts.
Newcastle Make Leicester Look Ordinary
In the other quarter-final match of the night, St James’ Park erupted into great cheers and excitement as Newcastle United reached only their second League Cup semi-final in history beating Leicester City 2-0 This is coming 47 years after they dusted Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 on aggregate to reach the final in 1976.
Sadly that year, they lost to Manchester City at Wembley, no thanks to Dennis Tueart’s outrageous overhead kick. But a chance for revenge in this year’s semis or final may be on the card, should City get past Southampton tomorrow evening
This victory for the Magpies is certainly a delightful way to rebound from their shock FA Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. However, it was a lengthy, frustrating, and sometimes downright painful wait on the night before Newcastle were able to reach their first domestic semi-final in 18 years.
The crowd was ecstatic waving the black and white flags to celebrate the goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton that deservedly swept Eddie Howe’s side into the Carabao Cup’s final four, while Coach Brendan Rodgers and the Foxes were a study in dejection.
The Leicester’s manager had warned his club’s increasingly mutinous fans he is not a magician and his injury-hit team was made to look distinctly mortal by a Newcastle XI for whom almost anything feels possible this season.
