Man City 2-0 Brentford: City reach Carabao Cup semis as Cherki and Savinho net

Rayan Cherki's thunderbolt strike helped Manchester City overcome Brentford to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

Match Report

City, who had not reached the last-four of the competition since claiming a fourth triumph in a row in 2021, now wait to discover their opponents for the two-legged tie, with the draw being made later on Wednesday.

Brentford started brightly but could not capitalise and were then reliant on stand-in goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson to push away a rising effort from Cherki.

Having had a sighter at goal, the Frenchman gave City the lead just after the half hour mark.

The forward picked the ball up on the edge of the box, cut on to his right foot before unleashing an unstoppable effort high into the top corner of the net.

Before the goal, Brentford were left incensed when Abdukodir Khusanov received only a yellow card for tripping Kevin Schade close to the edge of the box. The visiting players argued their striker was through on goal but with no video assistant referee (VAR) in operation, the on-field decision from Sam Barrott stood.

Nico O'Reilly long range strike in the second half was straight at Valdimarsson, while at the other end Kristoffer Ajer's arrowed drive was brilliantly pushed away at full stretch by James Trafford.

And City sealed progression in the next round as Savinho's deflected strike on 67 minutes looped over Valdimarisson and landed in the back of the net to leave them one step away from another trip to Wembley.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

13' Cherki receives a cross but his attempt sails wide of the right post

15' Bobb bursts into the box after a fine solo run but the keeper makes a great save

16' Khusanov is booked yellow for his bad tackle

19' Oscar Bobb is replaced by Foden due to injury

25' Cherki drills the ball towards the roof of the net but his effort is saved

25' Reijnders strikes the ball which rebounded to the edge of the box but it is high

32' GOAL! Cherki drills a shot into the top right corner! Man City 1-0 Brentford

53' Kayode strikes the ball towards the left post, but the keeper denies the effort

63' Foden unleashes a strike, but the keeper makes an astonishing save to thwart him

64' Bernardo, Gvardiol & Nunes comes on as Cherki, Nico and O'Reilly go off

67' GOAL! Savinho extends the lead for Blues! Man City 2-0 Brentford

68' Mukasa hits a weak shot from mid-range which drifts well wide of the left post

80' Phil Foden and he is replaced by Charlie Gray

86' Matheus Nunes is booked yellow for a heavy challeng

Line-ups

Man City XI: Ake, Reijnders, Nico González, James Trafford, Cherki, Bobb, Lewis, Savinho, Nico O'Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov, Divine Mukasa

Subs: Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Donnarumma, Haaland, Foden, Matheus Nunes, Gvardiol, Charlie Gray, Stephen Mfuni

Brentford XI: Kristoffer Ajer, Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen, Janelt, Hákon Valdimarsson, Mikkel Damsgaard, Van den Berg, Nathan Collins, Kevin Schade, Yegor Yarmolyuk, Michael Kayode

Subs: Kelleher, Ethan Pinnock, Myles Peart-Harris, Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter, Yunus Konak, Romelle Donovan, Benjamin Arthur, Gustavo Nunes