The bottom club of the Premier League dismisses Manchester City from the League Cup

Southampton, bottom club in the Premier League, was able to forget their championship sorrows for a few hours and treat themselves to eliminating Manchester City from the English League Cup, which they defeated 2-0.

The Franco-Senegalese Sékou Mara (23) and the Malian Moussa Djenepo (29) were the authors of the goals for the ‘Saints’ in the first part.

True to its style, the team coached by Pep Guardiola (with many regulars in the starting lineup) began commanding the game, but was quickly surprised by the rival, who stood at half-time with a two-goal lead.

In the 23rd minute of the game, the ‘Saints’ went ahead on the scoreboard, when Sékou Mara went ahead of Kyle Walker to finish off a cross from the right of the Brazilian Lyanko into the net.

And barely six minutes later, Djenepo stunned goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, born in Germany to a Spanish father, with a well placed shot from 25 meters that slipped through the top corner.

In the second part, Guardiola brought more starters onto the field (such as De Bruyne, Haaland and Rodri) and the ‘citizen’ dominance was even clearer, but except for a couple of occasions by the Argentine Julián Álvarez (47 and 78), the visitors never gave the impression of being able to overcome the game.

“The best team won. We don’t play well. In many matches we didn’t start well, but then we played better. We didn’t do it in this one”, Guardiola admitted after the game.

“When you’re not prepared for this game, you arrive one centimeter late and you don’t score a goal,” he added, referring to the accumulation of competitions and City games.

Manchester City is thus eliminated from a tournament that it has won in six of the last nine editions.

In the other tie played this Wednesday, Nottingham Forest defeated Wolverhampton on penalties, coached by former Spanish coach and former Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui, who thus loses a great opportunity to aspire to win his first title in English football.

The ‘Wolves’ took the game to extra time with a goal from the Mexican Raúl Jiménez in the final stretch of the game (minute 84), which served to equalize the initial goal of the Ivorian Willy Boly in the first period (18).

In the semifinals, Nottingham Forest will play Manchester United, who qualified on Tuesday after beating Charlton 3-0, while Southampton will face Newcastle, who eliminated Leicester (2-0), according to the draw held after games this Wednesday.

The first leg will be held the week of January 23 and the return a week later. (D)