Southampton 2-0 Man City: Carabao Cup specialists exit competition as Jones' men pull off clash

Carabao Cup specialists Man City were knocked out of this year's competition in the quarter-finals following a surprise loss to Southampton.

First-half goals from Saints duo Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo stunned the eight-time winners who were unable to recover.

Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne started on the bench ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend at Old Trafford.

But, unlike on Sunday when the influential pair weren't required in a landslide 4-0 FA Cup win over Chelsea, the decision backfired as they were unable to prevent City from suffering elimination after coming off the bench in the second period.< /p>

Tackling underdogs Southampton fully deserved victory and will face Manchester United, Newcastle or Nottingham Forest in their first League Cup semi-final since finishing runners-up in 2017.

A remarkable result on the south coast was the Saints' first home success against Premier League opposition since beating Chelsea in August and only a sixth since the start of 2022.

Southampton overcame League 1 clubs Cambridge, Sheffield Wednesday and Lincoln to reach this stage, but the large number of empty seats suggests that many home fans are not considering further progress.

Yet Nathan Jones' bottom-of-the-table side put aside their disastrous league campaign and dismal home form as an aggressive start kept City from slipping into their formidable pace and paved the way for a monumental surprise.

Lyanco played Saints steel with his rugged early treatment of Jack Grealish and he was instrumental in the 23rd minute opener.

After cutting off Sergio Gomez's pass to Grealish, the Brazilian defender ran forward and fired a low cross which Mara swept past Stefan Ortega hard to score his first goal for the club.

City's sold-out final was briefly silenced by the surprise breakthrough and they had serious cause for concern just five minutes later as Djenepo doubled the lead.

The Mali international collected the ball just inside the opposition's territory and accelerated towards goal before unleashing a speculative curling effort from 30 yards that sailed over the stranded goalkeeper's head Ortega.

City's best chance of an alarming first half went to captain Ilkay Gundogan, who fired wide in six minutes, and Guardiola responded by bringing in De Bruyne, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji for the second half .

De Bruyne almost had an immediate impact but, after his through ball opened up the Saints defence, Julian Alvarez fired wide.

The ineffective Grealish then escaped punishment for an unnecessary barge and off the ball on Djenepo before being quickly replaced by Haaland.

Top scorer Haaland, looking to add to his 27 goals this season, hung on before Che Adams saw an effort ruled out for offside at the other end.

Southampton have kept just one league clean sheet all season but protected their two-goal lead with relative ease.

World Cup winner Alvarez threatened to halve the deficit with 12 minutes to go as Haaland went close with a graze header on a night to forget for the champions Premier League.

READ MORE: Worst January transfer signing of any Premier League club