Rayan Cherki’s thunderbolt strike helped Manchester City overcome Brentford to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
City, who had not reached the last four of the competition since claiming a fourth triumph in a row in 2021, will face Newcastle in a two-legged semi-final.
Brentford started brightly but could not capitalise and were then reliant on stand-in goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson to push away a rising effort from Cherki.
Having had a sighter at goal, the Frenchman gave City the lead just after the half hour mark.
The forward picked the ball up on the edge of the box, cut on to his right foot before unleashing an unstoppable effort high into the top corner of the net.
Before the goal, Brentford were left incensed when Abdukodir Khusanov received only a yellow card for tripping Kevin Schade close to the edge of the box. The visiting players argued their striker was through on goal but with no video assistant referee (VAR) in operation, the on-field decision from Sam Barrott stood.
Nico O’Reilly long range strike in the second half was straight at Valdimarsson, while at the other end Kristoffer Ajer’s arrowed drive was brilliantly pushed away at full stretch by James Trafford.
And City sealed progression in the next round as Savinho’s deflected strike on 67 minutes looped over Valdimarsson and landed in the net to leave them one step away from another trip to Wembley.
