Man City down Leicester in Cup shootout

Thursday, 20 December 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko celebrates scoring the winning penalty during the shootout - Action Images via Reuters

London (Reuters): Holders Manchester City held their nerve to beat Leicester City 3-1 on penalties and reach the League Cup semi-finals after an entertaining last-eight tie ended 1-1 on Tuesday.

City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko fired the winner in the shootout after hosts Leicester missed three of their four spot kicks.

City had taken the lead through Kevin De Bruyne’s rifled finish early on but Leicester clawed their way back into the encounter with a brilliant finish from Marc Albrighton.

With no extra time in League Cup matches this season, the game went straight to penalties where Leicester’s Christian Fuchs fired over, while James Maddison and Caglar Soyuncu saw tame efforts saved by City keeper Arijanet Muric.

City will be joined in the last four by Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion after the third-tier side shocked Championship (second-tier) team Middlesbrough with a goal from Jake Hesketh.