Brewers’ misery as Blues run riot - and the second leg is still to come
CARABAO CUP SEMI-FINAL, 1ST LEG: MANCHESTER CITY 9, BURTON ALBION 0 ALBION ARE CRUSHED AS RUTHLESS CITY PILE UP THE GOALS AT ETIHAD STADIUM
NIGEL Clough believed a Burton Albion triumph over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-finals might be the greatest upset of them all.
Now we know exactly why. Manchester City illustrated every aspect of the quality that has them rightly pegged as one of the best sides in modern English footballing history, thrashing the Brewers 9-0 in the first leg of the last-four tie at the Etihad Stadium.
It was 4-0 by half-time and, despite a bright 15 minutes in each half from a Burton side unwilling to sit back and be dominated for 90 minutes, Clough’s side avoided the club’s worst-ever defeat - against Barnet in 1970 - by only a single goal.
Gabriel Jesus typified the hosts’ class by scoring four times but there was skill and intensity wherever a blue shirt lurked.
Burton will be frustrated by the similarity of so many of the goals but they knew the size of the challenge before kick-off. They had already achieved so much by getting here.
The second leg at the Pirelli Stadium on January 23 will now be a high-profile exhibition.
The real question is whether they can bounce back from such a shellacking in time for this weekend’s League One meeting with Gillingham.
Much of the pre-match talk in the press box was about whether kickoff at the Etihad may have to be delayed, with hundreds of Brewers fans caught up in traffic delays on the way to the ground.
But the players emerged into the floodlit arena just before the allotted 7.45pm start time, with De Bruyne, David Silva and Leroy Sane among the attacking talent on show.
For Albion, there were three changes from the side that triumphed over Rochdale on Saturday.
Stephen Quinn’s groin injury ruled him out but John Brayford was fit to return, while Ben Fox and David Templeton dropped out for Liam Boyce and Kieran Wallace.
For Wallace, who signed a deal until the end of the season on Tuesday, this was some way to make a first appearance in this season’s competition.
Burton’s continued set-up in their favoured 4-3-3 system showed they would make a valiant attempt at downing the Premier League champions and would not be sitting back to soak up 90 minutes worth of pressure.
That was evident in their surge forward from kick-off, with Lucas Akins running upfield and firing a low shot at Aro Muric’s goal within 10 seconds.
It did not take long, though, for a reminder of the gargantuan challenge ahead of them to arrive.
Silva bent in a well-weighted ball from the left and De Bruyne got between Albion’s centre-half pairing of Ben Turner and Jake Buxton to cushion a header past Bradley Collins.
Burton were not bowed by such an early setback.
Indeed, they enjoyed a good 20-minute spell after going behind, with Scott Fraser and Akins leading the charge.
And it was work by that pairing which created the Brewers’ outstanding chance of the game.
Fraser passed to Akins, whose low cross from the left took a slight deflection and ran into the path of Marcus Harness, lurking unmarked at the back post.
Fresh from Saturday’s hat-trick heroics, the Burton winger lent back and lifted his left-footed shot over Muric’s bar.
It would not get better for the visitors.
Clough will have been pleased with his side’s response to De Bruyne’s goal. There was no lack of intent going forward, with several players getting up in support of Boyce on each occasion.
Albion were given a lifeline when Riyad Mahrez had an effort disallowed for offside from a floated Ilkay Gundogan pass.
City kept coming, with balls lofted delicately over Albion’s back line and into the path of dangerous runners.
And it led to their second goal in the 30th minute, which sparked a devastating three-goal salvo to completely change the complexion of the tie before half-time.
This time, Gundogan’s clever pass found Sane running in behind. While his shot was saved at close quarters by Collins, Jesus was following up to nod home the rebound.
Another lofted pass led to another Jesus goal four minutes later. Silva was the one to spring the offside trap this time, with Reece Hutchinson not getting out in time.
The mercurial City midfielder controlled it before laying possession across to Jesus, who converted his second in off the post.
Three became four within a matter of moments.
Oleksandr Zinchenko’s first goal for Guardiola’s side was eye-catching, although his expression afterwards suggested he didn’t mean it. He scored with a first-time sweep, rising and then dipping in from 25 yards - although perhaps he meant it to be a cross.
Perhaps stung by having been so openly attacked by Burton for a short period of time, there was no let-up from the hosts.
Had it not been for a superb reaction save by Collins on the stroke of