Manchester City booked their place in the next round of the Carabao Cup on Thursday evening. They beat Championship side Norwich City 5-0 at home.
For Manchester City, plenty of big names stayed on the bench on Thursday evening. Coach Enzo Maresca gave 17-year-old Floyd Samba the nod up front, with Allan and Rayan Aït-Nouri on either side of him.
Behind them, Ayoubb Bouaddi, Mateo Kovacic and Rayan Cherki started in midfield. Across the back, Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico O’Reilly lined up from right to left. In goal, former Ajax player Gerónimo Rulli made his debut.
Both sides had a few probing attacks early on, but neither really threatened. Manchester finally broke the deadlock after half an hour.
Samba scored the opener. The German superbly headed in Allan’s cross to make it 1-0. Three minutes later, Cherki doubled the lead with a precise finish into the bottom corner after Bouaddi sent him through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Right after the restart, Manchester City killed the game. Allan, who had already provided an assist, also marked his debut for the club with a goal. He smashed the ball into the far corner after a fine individual move.
Moments later, The Citizens stretched their lead even further. Samba picked up the ball in Norwich’s penalty area and curled home brilliantly. The visitors did pull one back afterwards, but Mohamed Touré’s goal was disallowed for offside.
Then substitute Ryan McAidoo made it 5-0 in the closing stages. The 18-year-old forward guided the ball first time into the top corner.