Manchester City took a commanding step towards the Carabao Cup final on Tuesday night, defeating Newcastle United 0-2 at St. James’ Park in the first leg of their semi-final tie. Goals from Antoine Semenyo and a late strike from Rayan Cherki secured the victory for the visitors, though the match was heavily marred by a significant VAR controversy that caused a lengthy stoppage.
Okay News reports that Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, tapping in from a Bernardo Silva assist to give City the lead. The forward appeared to have doubled his tally shortly after, but the goal was ruled out following a chaotic five-minute and 30-second VAR review. Reports indicate that the semi-automated offside technology failed, forcing officials to manually draw lines to determine the call, a delay that frustrated fans and players alike despite the decision ultimately being deemed correct by the letter of the law.
Newcastle, backed by a raucous crowd of 51,392, remained in the contest for much of the game and nearly snatched an equalizer late on when Nick Woltemade narrowly missed a header from a Harvey Barnes cross. However, their hopes of taking a draw to the Etihad were dashed in the 98th minute when substitute Rayan Cherki swept home a cutback from Rayan Aït-Nouri to make it 2-0, leaving the Magpies with a mountain to climb in the second leg.
Speaking after the match, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva expressed frustration with the officiating despite the win, stating, “It should have been 3-0… It is so frustrating because the last time we came here we also had a lot of decisions go against us.” meanwhile, Newcastle defender Dan Burn conceded that the disallowed goal decision was likely correct, though he criticized the nature of “subjective offside” rules. The second leg is scheduled for early February, where City will look to book their place at Wembley.
