Manchester City used a barnstorming first half to ease past Manchester United 3-1 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
United beat City 2-1 when they last met in the Premier League on Dec. 7, but a repeat of that result looked unlikely from the outset with a nearly full strength XI from Pep Guardiola forcing the issue from the outset.
Bernardo Silva opened the scoring for the visitors with an unstoppable curling effort from 20 yards on 17 minutes that was in the back of the net before David De Gea had time to react.
Riyad Mahrez doubled the lead soon after the half-hour mark, pouncing on a Silva through ball on a counter-attack and rounding De Gea before tapping into an open net.
City got their third from another counter-attack, this time Kevin De Bruyne forcing the issue and blasting a shot off De Gea that Andreas Pereira redirected into his own goal to give the visitors a 3-0 lead at half-time.
De Gea made a brilliant save from a close-range Mahrez strike and minutes later United scored their first goal when Mason Greenwood set up Marcus Rashford on the counter to beat Claudio Bravo at his far post.
The goal enlivened the hosts, who kicked on in vain for another goal, with the tie set to be decided on Jan. 29 when Man United visit the Etihad (2:45 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+) with a spot in the Wembley final on the line.
