London: Manchester City kept alive their hopes of a quadruple as they beat Leicester City 4-3 on penalties Tuesday evening to reach the semifinals of the English League Cup. Arsenal were also through after beating West Ham 1-0. City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo saved Riyad Mahrez’s spot-kick for the decisive moment following a 1-1 draw after regulation and extra time. Jamie Vardy also missed in the shootout for Leicester. Bernado Silva’s first half goal looked to have given the visitors the win, but Vardy scored an added on time penalty to take it beyond 90 minutes. City can still take a clean sweep of trophies this term with Pep Guardiola’s side 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League and in the knockout stages of the Champions League. However, the Spaniard downplayed the chance of a quadruple. “That is not going to happen. Of course not,” he said after the game. “Come on, that isn’t real. What we’re living isn’t real. The situation of winning 16 or 17 games in a row will end sometime. In football you drop points and you lose competitions. I am not thinking about how many titles, I am thinking about the next game only,” he added. Kelechi Iheanacho, who moved from City to Leicester for 25 million pounds in the summer, struggled to make an impact before he helped his old club to a 26th-minute opener. Iheanacho allowed Yaya Toure to take the ball and pass to Ilkay Gundogan who strode forward to find Silva and the winger prodded the ball under the onrushing Ben Hamer. Leicester rattled City and eventually equalised in the seventh of eight minutes of added on time when Kyle Walker tangled with Demarai Gray in the area and Vardy buried the penalty. Both sides had chances in extra time before the shootout, where Christian Fuchs, Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra scored for Leicester while Gundogan, Toure, Lukas Nmecha and Gabriel Jesus netted for City. Elsewhere, Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of a forgettable game as Arsenal booked a place in the last four stage for the first time in six years. Dec 20: Manchester City kept alive their hopes of a quadruple as they beat Leicester City 4-3 on penalties Tuesday evening to reach the semifinals of the English League Cup. Arsenal were also through after beating West Ham 1-0. City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo saved Riyad Mahrez’s spot-kick for the decisive moment following a 1-1 draw after regulation and extra time. Jamie Vardy also missed in the shootout for Leicester. Bernado Silva’s first half goal looked to have given the visitors the win, but Vardy scored an added on time penalty to take it beyond 90 minutes. City can still take a clean sweep of trophies this term with Pep Guardiola’s side 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League and in the knockout stages of the Champions League. However, the Spaniard downplayed the chance of a quadruple. “That is not going to happen. Of course not,” he said after the game. “Come on, that isn’t real. What we’re living isn’t real. The situation of winning 16 or 17 games in a row will end sometime. In football you drop points and you lose competitions. I am not thinking about how many titles, I am thinking about the next game only,” he added. Kelechi Iheanacho, who moved from City to Leicester for 25 million pounds in the summer, struggled to make an impact before he helped his old club to a 26th-minute opener. Iheanacho allowed Yaya Toure to take the ball and pass to Ilkay Gundogan who strode forward to find Silva and the winger prodded the ball under the onrushing Ben Hamer. Leicester rattled City and eventually equalised in the seventh of eight minutes of added on time when Kyle Walker tangled with Demarai Gray in the area and Vardy buried the penalty. Both sides had chances in extra time before the shootout, where Christian Fuchs, Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra scored for Leicester while Gundogan, Toure, Lukas Nmecha and Gabriel Jesus netted for City. Elsewhere, Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of a forgettable game as Arsenal booked a place in the last four stage for the first time in six years.
Agence France-Presse
