Eddie Howe was not exactly overjoyed to learn that, instead of being cup-tied, Antoine Semenyo was free to play for Manchester City. Sure enough the Newcastle manager’s worst fears were realised as Semenyo – who had played in the competition this season for Bournemouth – scored City’s opener and had an another “goal” disallowed before Rayan Cherki’s stoppage-time second left Pep Guardiola smiling broadly.
With a second leg at the Etihad Stadium still to come this semi-final is not quite over but, thanks to not merely Semenyo but some fine goalkeeping from James Trafford, Newcastle’s defence of the Carabao Cup they won last March is looking distinctly fragile.
Newcastle kicked off, buoyed by the news their Saudi Arabian majority owners are set to imminently announce plans for the construction of a £200m training ground at Woolsington Hall.
Situated close to both the city’s airport – where the team fly to and from virtually every match – and a majority of the players’ homes in upmarket Ponteland, it is an ideal location that should help make Newcastle a more attractive prospect for future signings.
An expanding trophy collection would be an even greater magnet and Newcastle’s hopes of returning to Wembley to defend the trophy they lifted last year briefly soared when, following a slick move involving Joelinton, Anthony Gordon and Jacob Murphy, Yoane Wissa found himself with only James Trafford to beat.
Pep Guardiola looked aghast but, happily for City’s manager, the striker’s composure deserted him and he duly miscued, shooting over the crossbar from little more than six yards. It would prove the best chance of an underwhelming first half characterised by some unusual caution on the visitors’ part and the overall marginalisation of both Wissa and his City counterpart, Erling Haaland.
Like Wissa, Haaland, perhaps distracted by Nick Pope’s outstretched foot, was restricted to a handful of touches and spurned his one and only opening of the first 45 minutes following Bernardo Silva’s dangerous cross.
It all left Pope and James Trafford – a goalkeeper who came close to joining Newcastle from Burnley last summer and is still much admired by Howe – with relatively little to do. Guardiola though still looked a little uneasy as the impressive Lewis Miley and Jacob Murphy aimed to pressurise arguably City’s weakest defensive link, their left-back Nathan Aké, at every opportunity.
With tension, and tempers mounting Nico O’Reilly and Joelinton squared up in midfield and began pushing and shoving each other in the manner of children in a primary school playground. Both were shown yellow cards. Howe, too, lost his composure. After detecting some slapdash midfield play on Ramsey’s part, Newcastle’s manager looked in danger of spontaneous combustion as he leapt forward punching thin air and screaming invective at a player selected ahead of Sandro Tonali.
His mood hardly improved as a hamstring injury forced Murphy’s replacement by Harvey Barnes shortly before the interval. At least his full-backs, Miley and Lewis Hall were ensuring that City’s own wingers, Antoine Semenyo and, to a lesser extent, Jérémy Doku, were generally being kept on reasonably tight reins.
The same applied to Wissa but when he finally escaped his minders Trafford made a save of such calibre that it was all too easy to see why Howe still covets Gianluigi Donnarumma’s deputy.
When Bruno Guimarães directed the rebound on to a post it seemed a turning point and, sure enough, Semenyo soon stepped out of the shadows.
Unlike Wissa, he made the very most of that emergence into the sunlight. When Barnes hesitated, Doku pounced, unleashing a cross that Bernardo Silva helped on into Semenyo’s path. All that remained was for the £62.5m signing from Bournemouth to score his second goals in two games as a City player.
By way of emphasising his special talent Semenyo swiftly spotted that Newcastle had lost concentration at a corner and back-heeled a glorious improvisational goal beyond Pope. Newcastle looked sunk but they were rescued by a five-minute video assistant referee review that eventually detected an offside against Haaland. The referee Chris Kavanagh was then called to his monitor and he ruled the goal out. Guardiola looked suitably unimpressed.
Howe responded to this reprieve by introducing Tonali, Nick Woltemade and Anthony Elanga in place of Ramsey, Gordon and Wissa. With virtually his first touch, Tonali met Elanga’s cut-back and sent a left-foot shot whizzing fractionally wide.
With Rodri also liberated from the bench by Guardiola, the midfield tone was raised. Woltemade, meanwhile, made a bigger impact than Wissa. The Germany forward may be more a No 10 than a true No 9 but he still held the ball up a bit better than his withdrawn teammate as Newcastle rallied.
Joelinton though was living dangerously and seemed close to a second yellow card. Indeed it was something of a surprise when Kieran Trippier replaced Guimarães as part of a shift that involved Miley’s relocation in a midfield suddenly in need of a stabilising influence. Not that this shift changed the narrative. Instead substitute Cherki registered City’s second in the dying seconds.
