Burton Albion’s EFL Cup run came to a juddering halt at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City won their semi-final first leg 9-0
Gabriel Jesus grabbed four goals as Manchester City all but secured their place in the EFL Cup final with a crushing 9-0 first-leg victory over Burton Albion on Wednesday.
The Premier League champions have now put 16 goals past lower-league opposition in the past four days, Pep Guardiola’s men having thrashed Rotherham United 7-0 in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Kevin De Bruyne’s first headed goal in English football set the hosts on their way, with Jesus adding a quickfire double before Oleksandr Zinchenko fortuitously opened his City account. Jesus took his tally to four either side of Phil Foden’s tap-in, before Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez completed a miserable night for Burton’s cup heroes.
It took City five minutes to unlock the Burton defense, David Silva’s pinpoint pass picking out De Bruyne’s run and the Belgium international made no mistake with his header.
Despite falling behind Burton rallied and Marcus Harness should have equalized in the 12th minute, but Saturday’s hat-trick hero blazed Lucas Akins’ cross over the bar.
City’s control of proceedings was never under threat, though, and in the space of seven minutes, the hosts were four goals ahead as Jesus and Zinchenko struck.
Having pounced on a loose ball after Leroy Sane’s shot was saved by Bradley Collins, Jesus doubled his tally from Silva’s pass – the striker taking his time before slotting it in off the post.
FULL-TIME | NINE NIL.
🔵 9-0 🔶 #cityvbafc #mancity pic.twitter.com/GJ3uv79c5l
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 9, 2019
GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLL @Mahrez22!
Riyad gets in on the scoring now poking home @BernardoCSilva‘s ball-in at the second attempt.
🔵 9-0 🔶 #cityvbafc #mancity pic.twitter.com/5QF5LcCI6G
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 9, 2019
