Manchester City savagely bash 9 goals past helpless Burton
Burton Albion were tormented by an unpitying Manchester City on Wednesday, hemorrhaging nine goals in the first leg of their League Cup semifinal meeting.
Light blue shirts lurked menacingly outside the Brewers' 18-yard box for much of the fixture, seemingly picking apart the third-tier side's fragmented backline at will. It was a wholly miserable evening for those who traveled from Burton, with gridlock on the M6 making many in the away end late for the match.
Gabriel Jesus scored four times, with Kevin De Bruyne, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, and Riyad Mahrez all scoring one apiece in the 9-0 rout.
1986 - Burton Albion’s 9-0 defeat is the heaviest League Cup defeat by any side since Liverpool beat Fulham 10-0 back in September 1986, and is the largest ever margin of defeat in the semi-final of the competition. Gap. #CarabaoCup
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 9, 2019
The result equals Pep Guardiola's biggest win as a manager, with his previous 9-0 triumph coming in 2011 when Barcelona battered L'Hospitalet in the Copa del Rey. The scoreline also moves level with the highest-ever aggregate win in a League Cup semifinal - that was Manchester City again when they met West Ham United in 2014 - with another 90 minutes still to play at Burton's Pirelli Stadium in 14 days' time.
The huge advantage going into the reverse fixture allows Guardiola to heavily rotate his lineup. Even Eliaquim Mangala might get a game.