Newcastle United relinquish grip on Carabao Cup as Manchester City ease into Wembley final with heavy aggregate win

The Magpies were beaten 3-1 on the night, following a 0-2 loss in the first leg at St. James’ Park, meaning that Eddie Howe’s side will not defend their trophy.

Newcastle United knew that going to the Etihad Stadium for the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final they had a mountain to climb. Having been beaten by two goals to nil in the first leg at St. James’ Park, the prospect of returning to Wembley to defend their trophy seemed like a far-fetched prospect.

Of course, there are eternal optimists in this world, and nearly 6,000 of them headed down to Manchester in the hope that Newcastle would not only score their first goal at the Etihad since a DeAndre Yedlin strike in 2018, but manage a second and maybe even a third. That, in footballing terms, would have been a miracle.

Unfortunately, for Newcastle there would be no such miracle. In fact the tie was all but over inside the first ten minutes, when Dan Burn, in an attempt to tackle Omar Marmoush, saw the ball ricochet off the Egyptian and loop over Aaron Ramdale into the net. That set the tone for the Magpies, on what would turn out to be a very demoralising evening.

Eddie Howe had looked to press Manchester City high early on and create openings, which worked to an extent in some situations, but in others, Newcastle were left too open in midfield when the home side were able to play through the press.

Manchester City are very adept at cutting through teams, and on this occasion, it was the difference between the sides, with Newcastle simply lacking the pace to keep up with their opponents when they attacked.

Usually, seeing their team glide forward towards goal would excite a home crowd. Instead, the Etihad was about as loud as a monk taking a vow of silence during moments of promise for the Sky Blues. The travelling Toon Army certainly noticed that, often mocking the quality of the home support.

The victory in the stands was just about the only one Newcastle had during the evening. With the score 3-0 on aggregate the Magpies missed two golden opportunities, first through Joe Willock, and then through Anthony Gordon, that if taken, would have at least made the tie interesting.

Newcastle were soon punished for these failures when Marmoush scored his second, before Tijjani Reijnders made it three on the night and five on aggregate. Despite the lax defending from the Magpies, perhaps the biggest frustration came from the amount of chances they missed in both halves, even when the hosts took their foot off the gas in the second period.

Those in black and white did manage one goal, however. A well taken solo effort from Anthony Elanga, his first for the club, is one which many will hope is a big boost to his confidence after what has been a difficult start to life on Tyneside for the Swede. Elanga then missed a sitter to grab a second shortly after that, but the travelling Newcastle supporters continued to sing his name.

With that, the final whistle came, and Newcastle finally relinquished their grip on the Carabao Cup which they won just under a year ago. Concerns remain about how the rest of the season will play out, with the Magpies having slipped into the Premier League’s bottom half, whilst facing a tough away trip to Aston Villa in the FA Cup Fourth Round.

Perhaps the one saving grace is the Champions League, in which they will soon make a 5,000 mile round trip to face Qarabağ FK of Azerbaijan in the first leg of a play-off knockout round. The winner will face either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16.

Before that though, there are important matches to come in the league, and Eddie Howe will know that qualifying for Europe again in any form could be vitally important heading into another significant summer.