LEICESTER CITY 1, MANCHESTER CITY 1 AET (Manchester City win 4-3 on penalties)
Manchester City made it into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup after winning a penalty shoot-out at Leicester City with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo once again the hero.
Bravo sprinted over to the Man City fans to celebrate after saving Riyad Mahrez’ penalty in the shoot-out at the end of another 120 minute drama to keep the Blues in the hunt for trophies on four fronts.
City had been denied in normal time after Jamie Vardy’s spot kick in the seventh minute of eight added minutes at the end of normal time after Kyle Walker had been penalised for a soft foul on Demarai Gray.
All three senior Foxes players had been left out of the starting line-up and Leicester failed to punish a weakened City side in Extra Time with them on the pitch.
City academy product Lukas Nmecha kept his nerve to score one of the shoot-out penalties but Vardy went on to hit his shoot-out spot kick against the post before Mahrez was denied by the Chilean keeper to spark another celebration for the travelling fans.
Bernardo Silva had earlier put the Blues into the lead after 26 minutes as City ended top using five academy products on the night plus youngster Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Pep Guardiola rang the changes for City with only Eliaquim Mangala and Ilkay Gundogan keeping their places from the side that beat Spurs last Saturday. In came Claudio Bravo, Danilo, Tosin Adarabioyo, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Yaya Toure, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, and Brahim Diaz.
Guardiola entrusted City’s left flank to youth players, with Zinchenko at left back behind Foden on the left side of a three and ahead of them Diaz on the left wing.
There was room on the bench for three more Academy products – with Lukas Nmecha, Demeacho Duhaney, and Tom Dele-Bashiru making up the numbers for what was arguably City’s least experienced line-up of the season so far with Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, and Nicolas Otamendi given the night off.
Claude Puel also rang the changes for Leicester after a disappointing weekend for the Foxes who lost 3-0 to West Ham at the weekend. He made seven changes in all with fringe players including former City striker Kelechi Iheanacho given a run-out while Wilfried Ndidi was banned.
There were early chances for City as Bernardo Silva was denied by the Foxes goalkeeper Ben Hamer and a a clearance off the line by Harry Maguire while Ilkay Gundogan’s follow-up was sent wide and his later cross was tipped onto the bar by Hamer as City dominated the early stages,
Leicester were without Jamie Vardy but Iheanacho was booked after lunging in and catching City keeper Claudio Bravo in a 50/50 after Danilo undercooked a back pass to him.
City took the lead after 26 minutes to score his second City goal on the break as Gundogan drove upfield with the ball and fed Bernardo Silva who raced in from the right, beat Hamer, and poked it past him.
Depleted Leicester remained a sporadic danger and they should have levelled the scores as Ben Chilwell’s cross was missed by Mangala and Okazaki set up Iheanacho but his underpowered shot was saved by Claudio Bravo and Adarabioyo cleared the danger.
Leicester City bring on the big guns to pressurise Man City
They remained a danger until half time and brought on Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy just over ten minutes into the second half with Iheanacho and Marc Albrighton making way.
Vardy almost got the better of Bravo as the home fans immediately got behind their bolstered team.
The game opened up as Bernardo Silva almost scored his second goal after a fast break by City but Gundogan was booked for diving and Mangala escaped a booking for a foul on Okazaki.
Demarai Gray came on to add even more pace to the Leicester attack as City began to labour towards the end of an increasingly precarious game.
Mangala was off the pitch for a blood injury after a collision with Vardy and Mahrez beat Zinchenko to cross for the England striker whose glancing header was wide.
With City’s second string flagging, Vardy beat Zinchenko but his shot was saved and held by Bravo as Leicester players raced in for the rebound.
The stricken Mangala was quickly replaced by Kyle Walker with Danilo slotting in at centre half and Guardiola handed debuts to Lukas Nmecha and Tom Dele-Bashiru as Diaz and a limping Foden were rested.
Leicester pressure builds, they win a penalty but Claudio Bravo has the last laugh
The pressure was building on City though, and Vardy almost got in a couple of times before Gray won a soft penalty after being brought down by Kyle Walker in the seventh minute of eight added minutes.
Vardy dispatched the spot kick to win another 30 minutes for the Foxes which they bossed.
Walker was unlucky to be booked for a dive in the Leicester penalty area in Extra Time as he and Aleksandar Dragovic went to ground without the Leicester man getting the ball.
Mahrez, Maguire, and Vardy went close in added time while Toure’s whipped-in free kick was stopped by Hamer.
Zinchenko went close with a long range dipping shot that cleared the bar.
Dragovic picked up a late injury and was replaced by Yohan Benalouane as Leicester’s fourth change towards the end of the contest but Guardiola opted not to bring Leroy Sane on – trusting his youngsters to finish the job.
Mahrez was denied by Bravo and Vardy was brought down by Danilo on the edge of the box while Maguire ran the length of the field and tried to find Vardy but his volley was poor as Leicester failed to make the most of their chances before it went to the shootout.
Leicester scored penalties by Christian Fuchs, Harry Maguire and Vincent Iborra and City hit penalties by Gundogan, Toure, Lukas Nmecha, and Gabriel Jesus before Vardy hit the woodwork and Mahrez was denied by Bravo to set off celebrations for City just as he did against Wolves in the previous round.