Manchester City's defence of their Carabao Cup crown continues after they progressed past Brighton on penalties.
The Seagulls twice led during the tie, but with the score level at 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes, it was decided on penalties. Geronimo Rulli was the hero, as the hosts prevailed in the shootout.
Enzo Maresca will surely have earmarked the competition as an opportunity to bring his first piece of silverware back to the Etihad. His predecessors, Pep Guardiola and Manuel Pelligrini, both opened their accounts at the club with League Cup triumphs. The Italian's side had been promoted to favourites for the competition following Arsenal's shock exit the previous night.
The high-flying Seagulls, meanwhile, arrived at the tie with lofty ambitions of their own. With the club having never won a major trophy, Fabian Hurzeler wants to be the man to deliver glory. And with Brighton competing in Europe and sitting third in the Premier League table, supporters will believe that trophy could come this season.
Their hopes got off to a good start tonight too. Malick Yalcouye was on hand to put the visitors ahead on the half-hour mark. Although City will certainly feel aggrieved by the opener, which would have been chalked off had VAR been in operation.
Nevertheless the goal stood and City had to find a response. Maresca was unable to turn to a number of key men – Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Gianluigi Donnarumma were all absent from the squad after being given extra days off by the Italian coach.
It was Mateo Kovacic who stepped up and brought the hosts level before the break. Phil Foden laid it off for the Croatian on the edge of the box, and he wrapped it into the bottom corner.
Still, just two minutes after the restart Brighton had their noses back in front. Georginio Rutter raced through on goal and fired home to reestablish the Seagull's lead. The forward had chances to add to more too. He was denied by the crossbar, before rounding Rulli only to find the side-netting on the hour mark.
This prompted City to get their act together, and they once again pegged the visitors back. A Rayan Cherki free-kick was diverted into the bottom corner by Vitor Reis, setting up a grandstand finish to the tie.
Both teams piled men forward in search of a winner. Mats Wieffer struck the post from a Brighton corner in the 89th minute. Enzo Fernandez was inches away from putting City in front in the final minute. Then the visitors came up the other end with Minteh lifting just over the crossbar with the final kick of the 90 minutes.
Nobody could find the decisive goal and so it was over to penalties. Mateo Kovacic faltered first, but Rulli spared his blushes by saving from Yasin Ayari. The Argentinian goalkeeper then repeated the stop against Lewis Dunk and the tie was won.
