United’s Cup defence ended by second-tier Bristol

LONDON— Jose Mourinho endured his biggest upset as Manchester United manager on Wednesday when his League Cup defence ended with a loss to second-tier club Bristol City.

The quarter-final was heading to extra time until Korey Smith brought down Matty Taylor’s chipped pass on his chest and unleashed the ball on the turn under United goalkeeper Sergio Romero to grab a 2-1 victory in the third minute of stoppage time.

“A few times I’d made runs in behind and I wasn’t being tracked,” Smith said. “So I said at halftime to the boys, ‘If I make that run look for me and I’ll try and get that shot off.’ Luckily (Taylor) made a great ball and it’s gone in.

City, which is renowned for elaborate pre-recorded goal celebration GIFs, quickly tweeted out a clip of Smith wearing a Santa hat setting off a streamer that garnered more than 50,000 retweets or likes within an hour.

Celebrations in the stadium were more spontaneous, with thousands of fans flooding onto the field after a game that had seen Joe Bryan’s opener for City cancelled out by Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the striker’s first start of the season. The League Cup was the first trophy won by Mourinho at United.

The reward for City, which is third in the second-tier League Championship, is an even tougher semifinal against Premier League leader Manchester City.

“I joined the club when we were in League One (in 2014),” Smith said. “We had three stands and obviously we had a great season. And the next year we were in and around the bottom of the (Championship) table.

“This year we’ve been absolutely brilliant. The younger players are developing and people are coming into their prime. The stadium now is absolutely amazing.”

The other semifinal in January is a London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea, which beat Bournemouth 2-1 Wednesday.

Willian tapped in Chelsea’s opener, but extra time was looming after Dan Gosling curled in a 90th-minute equalizer. Then Eden Hazard set up Alvaro Morata.