Holders Manchester City can look forward to defending the League Cup in next month’s final at Wembley as Gabriel Jesus struck four goals in a 9-0 thrashing of Burton Albion in their semi-final, first leg on Wednesday.
Kevin de Bruyne, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez were also on target against Nigel Clough’s League One side as City ensured their visit to the Pirelli Stadium on January 23 is a mere formality.
“Of course we are already in the final. We have to play second leg and we will take it seriously. Happy to be in the final again,” said City boss Pep Guardiola.
“It’s not easy to play this kind of game. We spoke [before the game] to take it seriously, we started well.”
After also thrashing Rotherham 7-0 in the FA Cup on Sunday with a much-changed side, Guardiola was able to again hand a rest to a number of his key players but named a strong side with De Bruyne continuing his comeback from injury.
And the Belgian set the tone for the evening by heading City into a fifth-minute lead as he timed his run into the box perfectly to head home David Silva’s cross.
Clough admitted before the game it would take a “miracle” for Burton to blunt the Premier League champions’ might over two legs.
“We didn’t expect anything less given the gulf in class between the teams, we actually feared it could be more,” said Clough, a two-time League Cup winner as a player under his father Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest.
“We’ve made history with the club getting to the last four of a Cup competition. Once we saw the three teams (in the semi-finals) it was always going to be trouble.”
So it proved, but the visitors missed a glorious chance to get straight back on level terms when Marcus Harness blasted over Lucas Akins’s cross when completely unmarked inside the penalty box.
It took City until the half hour mark to double their advantage, but a glut of three goals in seven minutes followed to put the tie to bed before the break.
Jesus headed home his first from close range after Bradley Collins had denied Leroy Sane before the Brazilian slotted home Silva’s cushioned pass via the inside of the post.
“Players like me want to play more, to help the team, and we went out there to win,” said Jesus.
City didn’t need any luck, but still got some when Zinchenko’s intended cross then looped over Collins to make it 4-0.
Other sides may have slacked off in the second period, but with competition for places so fierce among Guardiola’s side, the hosts were ruthless to match the Catalan’s biggest ever win as a coach.
Jesus powered home a header to complete his second hat-trick of the season.
De Bruyne was then replaced by home favourite Foden, who was surprisingly left out of the stating XI, just before the hour mark.
It took just four minutes for the 18-year-old to score his third City goal as he profited from the rebound after Collins did well to parry Jesus’s first effort.
Jesus did soon have his fourth with a delicate finish from Sane’s cross and City’s dominance was summed up when right-back Kyle Walker strode forward to fire home his side’s eighth of the evening.
Mahrez made it nine seven minutes from time and those City fans still in the Etihad cried for a historic 10th.
But that was the only thing City fell short of on the night with a final meeting against Tottenham or Chelsea on February 24 guaranteed.
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Profile of RentSher
Started: October 2015 in India, November 2016 in UAE
Founders: Harsh Dhand; Vaibhav and Purvashi Doshi
Based: Bangalore, India and Dubai, UAE
Sector: Online rental marketplace
Size: 40 employees
Investment: $2 million
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Prophets of Rage
(Fantasy Records)
