London (AFP)

Manchester City achieved a second high-flying performance in three days, Wednesday night by winning in the semi-final of the League Cup, on the ground of its neighbor Manchester United (2-0).

After relaunching in the race for the title in the Premier League on Sunday at Chelsea (3-1), the Citizens easily validated their ticket for the final of the League Cup, scheduled for April 25 at Wembley.

They will have the opportunity to win their fourth consecutive League Cup and an eighth title in the competition.

A performance that only the Liverpool of the early 80s achieved.

Their opponent will be José Mourinho's Tottenham, who won 2-0 on Tuesday night against Championship (D2), Brentford.

As at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, the tactical, physical and technical superiority of the Citizens has been indisputable, despite a team partly decimated due to several cases of Covid within Pep Guardiola's workforce.

The coach of the Reds Devils, Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer, deprived of Edinson Cavani, suspended, had however opted for a reinforced three-way midfielder, with Pogba, McTominay and Fred, while an option in 4-2-3-1 had been considered.

In Manchester City, Benjamin Mendy, whose failure to comply with restrictions during New Year's Eve made the rounds of the tabloids, had been left on the bench for the benefit of Oleksander Zinchenko.

Pep Guardiola had also opted for a turn-headed attacking game plan, with plenty of permutations between Sterling, Mahrez and De Bruyne, to make one of England's heaviest and most permeable defenses dizzy.

- three goals denied -

The first half started off at a very high pace, which got smoother over time.

The ball has hardly ever stopped going from one camp to another and neither team has given the feeling of gaining the upper hand.

Unsurprisingly, possession of the ball was for Manchester City, and counterattacks dangerous for Manchester United.

Rare fact: from the first minutes, three goals were refused for offside (one for United and two for City), without intervention of the VAR.

But despite everything, the opportunities were nevertheless rare in the first period, apart from a strike from Bruno Fernandes repelled by Zack Steffen (9th), and an attempt by Kevin de Bruyne on the post (13th).

Marcus Rashford could also have given the advantage to his camp if Ruben Dias had not interposed (25th).

Manchester City finally opened the scoring after the locker room, on a free kick from Phil Foden, which surprised the central defense of Manchester United.

It rather anticipated a free kick from De Bruyne, and central defender John Stones took the opportunity to score his first goal in three years (0-1, 50th).

Stunned, Manchester United suffered a lot in the next ten minutes, and trembled four times (Cancelo, Sterling, Foden, Mahrez).

Then continued to stumble on the defensive organization of City, which had already proven itself three days earlier at Stamford Bridge.

Apart from a failed header from Harry Maguire (64th), the Red Devils did not get any clear opportunity until the end of the match.

Fernandinho took advantage of a poor clearance from the opposing defense to place an unstoppable shot at ground level, which definitively ended the suspense (2-0, 83rd).

But it had already been a good half hour since Guardiola's tactical victory over Solskjaer was evident.

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