Haaland and De Bruyne didn’t help either. Manchester City unexpectedly crashed out of the League Cup without scoring a goal

Southampton were a big surprise in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. They took on the reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City, who were not even helped by star players Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne in the second half.

It was a battle of teams from opposite poles of the Premier League table. While Southampton have lost their last 5 games in England’s top competition, the Citizens are trying to catch up with leaders Arsenal.

Soton’s road to the quarter-finals alone has been very thorny. First, they were beaten only on penalties by third-league Sheffield Wednesday and had to turn around a one-goal deficit in the next round against another third-league opponent.

Manchester City started the game with a combined line-up but still with a team featuring the likes of Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gündogan and Phil Foden.

The second Premier League team entered the match very actively, but it was the home side who were the first to enjoy a goal. In the 23rd minute, Frenchman Sekou Mara scored after a pass behind the defence – 1: 0.

Then five minutes later, Moussa Djenepo shocked all City fans by catching the goalkeeper Ortega’s incomprehensible run from 35 yards – 2: 0.

After the first half, coach Pep Guardiola wanted to do something with the game and called Kevin De Bruyne and sharpshooter Erling Haaland into action as well.

But they couldn’t do anything about the result either. A completely harmless City did not threaten Southampton’s goal once during the whole match and deservedly lost on their field.

EFL Cup, Youtube