The semi-final draw ...
Kelly Cates presides over the draw in the tunnel at Ashton Gate, aided her glamourous assistants Phil Neville and Lewis Carey. “Phil, give the balls a good rummage,” she says, prompting no end of schoolboy sniggering from the assembled onlookers.
- Chelsea v Arsenal
- Manchester City v Bristol City
First legs to be played on the weekend commencing 8 January
Second legs to be played on the weekend commencing 22 January
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Jose Mourinho speaks ...
Asked what his thoughts are: “My thoughts are they were a bit lucky, but they fought hard to be lucky,” he says of Bristol City’s win. “They win the game in the moment when everyone was waiting for our goal. But also we hit the post twice in the first half., But they played brilliantly and fought like it was the biggest night of their lives and it probably was. It’s a beautiful game for football. I don’t want me saying they were lucky to be the most important thing. The most important thing is that a team from the Championship beat Manchester United. In the first half we lacked intensity. And when I say intensity I mean not just physically but mentally. For some of us it was like one more day in the office, probably a day for some of them where they don’t even want to come to the office. For the Bristol boys it was a big, big day for them, and you could see that.”
Match report: Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United
Ben Fisher was present for the Guardian on one of the more famous night’s in the history of Ashton Gate.
GOAL: #BristolCity 2-1 Manchester United, Smith 90. #BRCvMUN pic.twitter.com/tVNEwCOaiE
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) December 20, 2017
Korey Smith speaks: “Absolutely unbelievable,” he says. “The lads have played brilliantly. I don’t score a lot, but as you can see the lads are very happy. I said to the boys at half-time, if I make the run try to pick me out and Joe played me in.”
Korey Smith is in big demand: The Bristol City match-winner is posing for selfies with hundreds and hundreds of Bristol City fans and looks exhausted, but is now being helped towards the dressing room by some stewards. That was a great game of football and City are worthy winners. Stay tuned for the semi-final draw, in which City will be paired with Manchester City, Arsenal or Chelsea. They’ve already knocked out four Premier League teams, who’s to say they won’t beat another.
Full time: Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United
It’s all over! There’s a pitch invasion as Bristol City’s fans run on to the field to swamp their exhausted players at the end of a wonderful Cup upset. Bristol took the lead early in the second half courtesy of a Joe Bryan howitzer, only for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to equalise with a free-kick a few minutes later. On the rack and under immense pressure, Bristol City kept on keeping on and with the game looking certain to go to extra time, up popped Korey Smith at the death to nick a late, late winner for the Championship side.
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Incredible scenes at Ashton Gate! Working tirelessly at the knockings of normal time, Korey Smith puts Bristol City 2-1 up against Manchester United, ghosting in behind the defence to pick up a dinked pass over the top from Joe Bryan and control and volley the ball past the hopelessly exposed Romero from four yards out.
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GOAL!!!! Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United
Would you believe it?!?!?!?!? Bristol City have almost certainly snatched it at the death.
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90+3 min: United get forward again, but Lukaku’s shot from inside the Bristol City area is blocked. Now it’s the home side’s turn to attack on the break, but a poor delivery from Niclas Eliasson lets them down.
89 min: Aden Flint wins a free-kick for Bristol City not too far inside the Manchester United half. Marlon Pack lofts the ball forward and United clear. With United breaking on the counter, Matt Taylor brings down Romelu Lukaku and gets booked. Paul Pogba picks up a yellow card too, after mouthing off at referee Mike Dean for something or other.
87 min: Victor Lindelof looks to have sold Sergio Romero short with a back-pass, but there’s just enough on it to enable the United goalkeeper to hoof the ball clear under pressure from Bobby Reid.
87 min: We approach the end of normal time, with Manchester United turning the screw on Bristol City, but unable to find a way through on goal.
83 min: Chelsea have beaten Bournemouth and go into the Carabao Cup semi-final draw along with Arsenal and Manchester City. Back at Ashton Gate, Luke Steele saves brilliantly from Lukaku’s low drive, getting down quickly to scramble the goal-bound effort clear for a corner.
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80 min: Great play from City, who go close as Marlon Pack has a cross deflected over the bar for a corner, which results in the ball being sent sailing straight into the arms of Romero.
79 min: For Bristol City, Jamie Paterson cuts inside Matteo Darmian and sends a shot curling wide of the Manchester United goal.
Meanwhile at Stamford Bridge: Dan Gosling has equalised for Bournemouth against Chelsea in the 90th minute ... only for Alvaro Morata to nick what looks likely to be a very late winner for the hosts.
77 min: Another corner for Manchester United, which is cleared by a meaty header from Aden Flint.
76 min: Great goalkeeping from Luke Steele, who does well to tip a Lukaku header around the upright and out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Bristol City are under immense pressure here.
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75 min: Bristol City substitution: Josh Brownhill off, Niclas Eliasson on.
74 min: Marcus Rashford gets a yellow card for a late challenge on Joe Bryan, moments after putting Bryan had put in a wonderful, potentially match-saving covering tackle on the Manchester United striker who looked through on goal with an unmarked Lukaku up in support to his right.
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73 min: Bristol City win a free-kick just inside the Manchester United half. Bryan floats the ball forward, but Marcos Rojo clears.
71 min: United advance into Bristol City territory with Lukaku and Mkhitarian linking up well. With Rashford calling for the ball, Lukaku opts to shoot himself but doesn’t trouble Luke Steele unduly with his effort.
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68 min: There’s a pause in play as Josh Brownhill receives treatment down by one of the corner flags. Manchester United substitution: Zlatan Ibrahimovic off, Henrikh Mkhitaryan on.Bristol City substitution: HOrder Magnusson off, Matt Taylor on.
66 min: Bristol City’s defence are being pinned further and further back by a Manchester United team that seem to have the smell of blood in their nostrils. Bristol City win another throw-in deep in United territory, which Magnusson takes long again. Romero comes for the ball and misses it, but Aden Flint sends his header floating agonisingly wise of the upright.
63 min: Replays of Zlatan’s free-kick show that he took advantage of a gap in the Bristol City wall and the ball took a slight deflection off the back of Korey Smith on it’s way in. I suspect Luke Steele would have beaten anyway, as he was completely unsighted.
60 min: Manchester United substitution: Romelu Lukaku on for Daley Blind. A striker for a holding midfielder - Joe wants to put this one to bed as quickly as possible and as entertaining a game as it is, for that we should all be thankful.
GOAL! Bristol City 1-1 Manchester United (Ibrahimovic 58)
Zlatan equalises with the free-kick. He blasts a shot through the wall and into the bottom right-hand corner. Bristol City’s lead was short-lived, but Manchester United have equalised from a free-kick they were very lucky to get from Mike Dean. It was a good shot from the has-been, though. Write him off at your peril.
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57 min: Manchester United win a free-kick in a good position just to left of the day for a Korey Smith “foul” on Paul Pogba, who appeared to just run into the midfielder.
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55 min: With their tails up, Bristol City carve out another shooting opportunity courtesy of a nice dummy from Bobby Reid that allows the ball to run to Joe Bryan again. This time he shoots from the edge of the area on his weaker right foot, but his low daisy-cutter doesn’t trouble Romero unduly.
53 min: That was a brilliant finish to an excellent move that began and ended with Joe Bryan. He played the ball forward, kept on running up the inside left channel past two or three Manchester United players, picked up a pass from Marlon Pack and blasted the ball past Romero. Bristol City lead and you can’t say they don’t deserve it.
GOAL: #BristolCity 1-0 Manchester United, Bryan 51. #BRCvMUN pic.twitter.com/RQqmWg6dPN
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) December 20, 2017
GOAL! Bristol City 1-0 Manchester United (Bryan 51)
Bristol City take the lead! Joe Bryan sends a diagonal surface to air screamer fizzing across the bows of Eduardo Romero and inside the far upright.
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50 min: Bobby Reid gets a yard on Victor Lindelof in the United 18-yard box and shoots into the side-netting from a narrow angle.
48 min: Another free-kick for Manchester United in much the same position for a Josh Bronhill foul on Anthony Martial. This time the one-man wall, Korey Smith, almost diverts the ball into his own net, but Luke Steele recovers well to save his team-mate the embarrassment of what might have been a hideous own goal.
46 min: Jamie Paterson gets the first yellow card of the evening for a late challenge on Paul Pogba. Free-kick for Manchester United wide on the left, about 35 yards from the Bristol City goal. Ibrahimovic runs over the ball and Rashford blasts a low drive into the one-man wall.
Second half: Bristol City 0-0 Manchester United
46 min: Play resumes with Manchester United getting the ball rolling. With Arsenal and Manchester City already in the Carabao tombola for the semi-final draw immediately after tonight’s game, Chelsea currently lead Bournemouth in the other quarter-final being played this evening. There are no changes in personnel on either side at Ashton Gate.
Half-time: Bristol City 0-0 Manchester United
Peep! Mike Dean blows for half-time and both sets of players march in after a thoroughly entertaining 45 minutes of play. Bristol City boss Lee Johnson will be the happier of the two managers so far - his team have acquitted themselves very well so far and have been brave in their attempts to take the game to Manchester United.
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44 min: Another long throw from Magnusson, who hurls the ball straight into the arms of Romero.
41 min: Daley Blind dives in to take the ball off the foot of Korey Smith in the Manchester United penalty area when the midfielder was clean through on goal and dithering over a shot. Brilliant play from Bristol City to get in behind the United defence after catching them napping with a quick throw-in. Smith shouldn’t have given Blind the opportunity to save United’s bacon with a last-ditch tackle after finding himself through on goal.
40 min: Daley Blind sends the ball into the mixer, Mctominay gets his head to it and the ball drops for Zlatan Ibrahimovic who volleys high over the bar from a tight angle under pressure from Josh Brownhill.
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39 min: Zlatan wins a corner off Magnusson after trying and failing to barge his way past the Icelandic international in the Bristol City penalty area.
36 min: Bristol City win a throw-in deep in Manchester United territory and, not for the first time, Hordor Magnusson Delaps/Challinors the ball into the penalty area to an Icelandic thunderclap soundtrack provided by the occupants of the stands. Manchester United clear.
33 min: Zlatan Ibrahimovic gets the ball, attempts to jink his way through a thicket of players on the edge of the Bristol City penalty area and quickly loses it. Why did Manchester United offer him a new contract? Answers on a postcard, please?
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31 min: Bristol City’s players are quickest to every ball in midfield and here, Hordur Magnusson beats Marcus Rashford to a loose ball despite giving him a head-start. He unleashes a venomous shot, which Romera puts out for a corner after diving to his right. Nothing comes of the subsequent dead ball.
29 min: Aden Flints gets the ball in the Manchester United net, having inadvertently blocked a Sergio Romero throw-out as he jogged past the goakeeper, before quickly booting the loose ball into United’s goal. Mike Dean curtails his celebrations with a shrill blast of his whistle which the Bristol City central defender greets with a grin.
28 min: Pack wins a corner that goes out of play off Anthony Martial’s hand. Bristol City’s fans appeal for a penalty, but none is forthcoming.
25 min: Paul Pogba and Marlon Pack are having quite the battle in midfield and we’ve just seen a replay of a high challenge from the Manchester United man on his Bristol City counterpart. He could easily have got a yellow or worse for that.
23 min: Paul Pogba drives forward from midfield and with Bristol’s defence backing off him, unleashes a shot from outside the penalty area. It curls a yard or so wide of the left upright.
21 min: A good move from Manchester United ends with Marcus Rashford finding a pocket of space outside the Bristol City penalty area and unleashing a drive that hits the right upright.
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19 min: Bristol City win a free-kick about three yardfs outside the Manchester United penalty, well left of centre. Luke Shaw, it was, with the infringement. Joe Bryan rounds off a rehearsed training ground move by firing the free-kick high and wide of the Manchester United goal
16 min: Good play from Anthony Martial, who’s giving Bailey Wright a torrid time of it down the left flank. He cuts inside the Bristol City full-back and unleashes a shot that’s blocked on the edge of the penalty area. The ball drops for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who chests it into the path of Scott McTominay. From 20 or so yards, he shoots high over the bar.
Swansea hope to have a replacement in for Clement for the Palace game, someone with PL experience - Bilic? (that's a guess, to be clear). The club keeps changing manager. Just wondering when those in charge of recruitment get held to account for the shambles they've presided over
— Stuart James (@StuartJamesGNM) December 20, 2017
14 min: Under pressure from a heavy Bristol City press far up the field, Manchester United concede a cheap throw-in.
13 min: The camera cuts to Margaret Dodds, a Bristol City fan who is enjoying the game. She recently celebrated her 100th birthday. Well done her.
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10 min: Joe Bryan is quicker to the ball than Daley Blind in midfield and bursts forward for Bristol City, whose counter-attack breaks down due to a poor final ball. Manchester United go down the other end of the pitch, where Anthony Martial sends in a cross from deep towards the far post. Zlatan’s attempt to sidefoot the ball home from a very narrow angle almost comes to fruition - it takes a deflection off Nathan Baker and bounces off the cross-bar.
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9 min: Meanwhile in Wales, Paul Clement has been sacked by Swansea City, who are in the market for a new manager.
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8 min: From that corner, Zlatan heads clear at the near post, but the ball is floated back into the mixer. Manchester United clear again. They’re under pressure here, after a fine start by Championship opponents who don’t look at all overwhelmed.
7 min: Josh Brownhill, who looks about 12 years old, takes the free-kick and gets it over the Manchester United wall. Sergio Romero fists it over his own cross-bar for a corner. From that inswinger, Pogba concedes another corner.
4 min: Paul Pogba, for anyone who is interested, has lined-up with his mohawk dyed a kind of neapolitan pink and yellow on one side, but browny-black on the other. He gets on the ball early doors but loses it about 10 yards in front of his own goal and has it robbed from him by Marlon Pack. In his attempts to win it back, he concedes a free-kick. Good play by the Bristol City midfielder.
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3 min: Bristol City seem to have lined up in a 4-5-1 formation, while their visitors look to have opted for a 4-3-3, rather than the 3-4-3 their line-up suggested. Stop yawning, this is important stuff.
2 min: Meanwhile at Stamford Bridge, Willian has fired Chelsea into a 1-0 lead against Bournemouth in the other semi-final, which started 15 minutes before this one.
Bristol City v Manchester United is go!
1 min: On a run of four consecutive wins, Bristol City get proceedings under way, with their players wearing red shirts, white shorts and red socks with white Santa Claus turn-down trim. Manchester United’s players wear light grey shirts, shorts and socks.
Not long now: The teams march on to the Ashton Gate pitch as a record-breaking crowd looks on. As the teams line up either side of the match officials, Zlatan Ibrahimovic uses a linesman to lean on for balance as he performs some last-second stretches.
A meeting of minds: Lee Johnson has voiced his desire to pick the brains of Jose Mourinho after tonight’s match and Sky Sports footage from behind the scenes at Ashton Gate show the pair engrossed in deep conversation ahead of kick-off.
Fairly uninteresting travel news: Manchester United actually attempted to fly to Bristol airport on a private jet this morning, but bad weather meant their plane was diverted to Cardiff instead.
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Will we see gifs?
Bristol City’s celebratory comedy goal gifs have become quite the social media phenomenon this season, so with the obligatory insincere apologies to Manchester United here’s hoping we see a selection tonight.
Social media kings Bristol City take on Manchester United in the Carabao Cup tonight #ThereWillBeGIFS
— COPA90 (@COPA90) December 20, 2017
via: @bcfctweets pic.twitter.com/gFz4GsmKWv
Just the 10 changes from Jose Mourinho ...
Marcus Rashford is the only Manchester United player starting tonight who was also on the field when his side’s 2-1 win over West Brom kicked off at the weekend. Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes his first start of the season for United and will captain United.
Lee Johnson, by contrast, fields 10 of the 11 players who beat Nottingham Forest last Saturday, with Luke Steele replacing Frank Fielding in goal for his third appearance of the season.
Bristol City v Manchester United line-ups
Bristol City: Steele, Wright, Flint, Baker, Magnusson, Brownhill, Pack, Smith, Bryan, Paterson, Reid.
Subs: Fielding, Taylor, Eliasson, Kelly, Vyner, Lemonheigh-Evans, Garita.
Man Utd: Romero, Lindelof, Rojo, Blind, Darmian, McTominay, Pogba, Shaw, Rashford, Ibrahimovic, Martial.
Subs: Mata, Lukaku, Smalling, Lingard, Ander Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Joel Pereira.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Early team news ...
Bristol City are missing plenty of players, including striker Famara Diedhou, the club’s record signing, and defender Jens Hegeler, who are both long term absentees with knee injuries, while Milan Djuric, Callum O’Dowda, Ivan Lucic, Korey Smith, Eros Pisano and Gary O’Neil are also unavailable. Loanees Cauley Woodrow and Jonathan Leko are both cup-tied.
Jose Mourinho has hinted that the lesser-spotted Henrikh Mkhitarian could be involved against Bristol City, having failed to feature in a Manchester United starting line-up since the team’s defeat at the hands of Chelsea on 5 November. Paul Pogba is available for selection again after suspension, but Michael Carrick, Eric Bailly and Marouane Fellaini are all sidelined, while Antonio Valencia is also expected to sit this one out.
“I am making a few changes for the match, but not many because Bristol City are one of the best teams in the Championship,” said Mourinho. “For me now, the Championship is not the Championship of five or 10 years ago. The Championship is now high-quality teams with lots of players that could be playing in the Premier League easily. So we need to take the game really seriously. I am going to make a few changes and it is possible Micki is involved.”
Preamble
Barry will be here shortly.
