Manchester City defender Kyle Walker admitted his side chose to ‘save the legs’ rather than push on for more goals during the second half of Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup win over rivals Manchester United.
City took a huge step towards a fourth final in five seasons with a 3-1 first-leg win over United at Old Trafford, and will be heavy favourites to book their spot at Wembley when the teams meet again at the Etihad in three weeks’ time.
The visitors were rampant in the first-half, and went into the break 3-0 up thanks to strikes from Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and an Andreas Pereira own goal.
At that point it seemed a case of how many City would win by, with echoes of the famous 6-1 win on the same ground in 2011.
However, the introduction of Nemanja Matic at half-time helped shore things up for the home side, and Marcus Rashford struck late to give his side hope.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Walker revealed the reason for City’s obvious drop in intensity.
“We knew they would come out differently so we knew what to expect,” he said.
“We wanted to control the game as much as possible, we’ve had a lot of games over the festive period, so save the legs and if there’s a goal to be had go and get it.”
