Newcastle ended any hopes of City completing a quadruple this season after knocking them out with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Alexander Isak.
Manchester City endured a first defeat of the season on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup, losing 1-0 against Newcastle United in a keenly contested match, condemning any hopes of a quadruple this season for Pep Guardiola’s side.
A second-half strike from Newcastle’s striker, Alexander Isak was enough to see Citey and Pep Guardiola exit the Carabao Cup making it a third consecutive early exit after defeats against Southampton and West Ham United.
City had dominated possession in the early stages of the match as Julián Álvarez had chances to give the visiting side the lead, but, Newcastle looked sharper after the break after bringing on Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimarães to bolster the attack.
City manager Pep Guardiola, who handed starts to 18-year-old Rico Lewis and 20-year-old Oscar Bobb, decided not to introduce prolific goalscorer Haaland – the 23-year-old Norwegian has scored eight goals in six Premier League games this season – as the visitors pushed for an equalizer, instead bringing on Jeremy Doku, Matheus Nunes, and Phil Foden.
After winning the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup last year, Wednesday’s loss means that Man City will be unable to go one better and win an unprecedented quadruple this season.
“We have a lot of games ahead of us,” Guardiola told reporters after the match.
“There are guys who have played a lot of minutes … I decided with this lineup, I always have done that in the Carabao Cup since day one when I arrived. In the Carabao Cup I always play the players who never regularly play.”
Prior to the game, Guardiola had lamented not being able to travel by plane between Manchester and Newcastle. City now has three more away games: against Wolves on Saturday, RB Leipzig in the Champions League on October 4, then Arsenal on October 8.
“We don’t have planes to travel back, we take a bus, it’s two or three hours later [that we return],” he said prior to facing Newcastle. “We arrive here so, so late … and Friday we have to travel to Wolves.”
For Newcastle, the victory was the team’s third in four games and sets up a fourth-round clash against Manchester United on October 30 – a repeat of last year’s Carabao Cup final.
“I’m delighted with the players, delighted with the efforts that they gave,” manager Eddie Howe told reporters.
“It was a very difficult game for us in that first half, I thought they played very well … The second half was a totally different performance.”
