Brighton are back at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and, if this chaotic, rip-roaring game between the supporting casts was anything to go by, the main event could be quite the watch.
Of course, every competition Manchester City are involved in comes laden with the knowledge that it could soon count for very little should they lose their appeal against their guilty verdict and the club are hit with severe sanctions.
Indeed, for the organisers of the Carabao Cup, the cleanest solution here may have been for the holders to go out.
But City live on to fight another day after squeezing past Brighton 4-3 on penalties, having twice come from behind to take a highly entertaining game to a shoot-out.
After Mateo Kovacic missed his and City's fourth spot-kick, Yasin Ayari had the chance to put Brighton within touching distance of the quarter-finals but his penalty was saved by City's back-up goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli.
Rayan Cherki then converted for City before Lewis Dunk missed for Brighton. Defeat was harsh on Fabian Hürzeler's enterprising side.
They had asked so many questions of City, twice taking the lead and missing a number of chances to win the game, including late on when Mats Wieffer hit a post and another substitute Yankuba Minteh curled a shot narrowly over the bar.
City dug in and they had to, Jeremy Doku making a big impact from the bench and Cherki and Phil Foden rising to the occasion when Enzo Maresca needed them most.
"Brighton are in a brilliant moment, they are winning games, scoring many goals every game so we knew it would be tough defending in the right way," the City manager said. "We could have done something better defensively. The game was chaotic but I think overall we controlled it quite well." City will face Bradford City, currently fourth in League One, in the last eight.
This was part one of a double bill with the teams scheduled to renew rivalries back here in the Premier League on Saturday. Brighton will stay in the north west in preparation, rather than travel back south.
Both teams are likely to be much-changed for what will be first against third in the table. But even accounting for the 16 changes made across the two teams here from their weekend defeats to Aston Villa and Liverpool, this was still a riveting game full of quality.
"We'll go there with full energy on Saturday," Hürzeler said. "Not sleeping in your own bed is not an advantage but we have good facilities. They [City] had the luck today and we had enough chances to win the game, so we have to reset. But we have a great chance to take revenge."
It says much for what Brighton have built that their second string could more than compete with City's stand-ins. Even with a pile of regulars missing there was no mistaking the hallmarks of their football under Hürzeler.
That much was evident for the second goal, just 77 seconds after the restart: a slick, quick move that culminated in the enterprising left-back Jaouen Hadjam pulling the ball back from the left by-line for Georginio Rutter, who had helped orchestrate the attack, spearing a laser-like first-time finish low into the far corner.
City had equalised through a curling shot from Kovacic 10 minutes after Malick Yalcouyé had put Brighton in front on the half hour mark, but the visiting team deserved to be back in front and had little intention of sitting back and defending what they had.
In fact, they could and probably should have extended their lead in that dominant 15 minutes after scoring their second and which led to Maresca introducing the electric Doku in an effort to tip the scales back in City's favour. Because at that point the absence of Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and the injured Antoine Semenyo was being felt.
Hadjam was a dangerous and marauding presence from left-back and Diego Gómez was quite superb in Brighton's midfield. At one stage, he threaded a lovely through ball to Rutter, who rounded the goalkeeper but should have squared for the lurking Jack Hinshelwood. Still, Brighton's No 10 was a handful and before then had forced a fine fingertip save out of Rulli, the City goalkeeper pushing his shot onto the crossbar and over after excellent work in the build-up by Hadjam.
There was always the danger of those misses coming back to hurt Brighton and so it proved when Cherki's free-kick deflected in off the foot of Vitor Reis to tee up a tense final 20 minutes.
The first half had flickered with bright moments. Several City players had appealed for offside against Yalcouyé when, with the help of Rulli's chest, he turned in Rutter's cross, but Ayyoub Bouaddi appeared to be playing him just onside. City's response was pretty quick when Foden rolled the ball to Kovavic who, from the D, bent in a shot off a post.
But the game truly exploded into life in a second half when both sides went at it. Brighton were initially on top before City forced their way back into the reckoning.
Doku's arrival still gave City a fresh impetus in attack – and Brighton more to worry about at the back, although the reality was both defences had their hands full.
Brighton could have won it in the closing stages through Wieffer and Minteh, but City would have the last laugh. At least Hürzeler and his players will not have to wait long to try to exact a little revenge. Maresca is expecting more of the same.
"No doubt," the City manager said. "They always go front foot, man-to-man, they are going to be exactly the same on Saturday."
