Manchester United bowed out of the Carabao Cup after losing 4-3 to Tottenham Hotspur in a thrilling quarter-final on Thursday night.
Carabao Cup
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 Manchester United
Date: 19 December 2024
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Marcus Rashford missed out on the matchday squad once again, as Altay Bayindir, Victor Lindelof, Leny Yoro, Christian Eriksen and Antony were all handed starts while Alejandro Garnacho was named on the bench.
It was Spurs who got the breakthrough on 14 minutes when Bayindir could only parry Pedro Porro's shot into the path of Dominik Solanke, who fired home a first-time finish.
The game was played at a lively pace in the first half but Ruben Amorim's side were finding it tough to carve out clear-cut chances in the box, as Bruno Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund tried their luck from distance.
Amorim was forced to make a change on the stroke of halftime when Lindelöf went down with an injury and was replaced by veteran defender Jonny Evans.
Things got worse for United shortly after the break when Spurs doubled their lead as Lisandro Martinez's poor clearance landed straight at the feet of Dejan Kulusevksi, who made no mistake from close range.
The home side went on to grab a third goal in the 56th minute when a swift counter-attack ended with Solanke cutting inside to carve out space before firing into the bottom corner to complete his brace.
United give themselves some hope eight minutes later when Fernandes pounced on a poor pass out from goalkeeper Fraser Forster to tee up substitute Joshua Zirkzee to slot into an empty net.
The visitors were gifted another goal in the 70th minute when fellow substitute Amad Diallo charged down Forster in the box and deflected the clearance into the back of the net.
Spurs bagged a fourth goal in the 87th minute when Son Heung-min scored directly from a corner after Bayindir failed to get his hands on the ball on the night that will be remembered for goalkeeper errors on both ends.
Evans did pull a third goal back for United in second-half stoppage time with a glancing header from a corner, but Spurs were able to see out the closing stages to book their spot in the final four.
