Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - January 7, 2026 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts after the match Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Jan 12 (Reuters) - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would have preferred the League Cup semi-final against Newcastle United to be a single-leg tie due to the holders' habit of scoring late goals.
Anthony Gordon's added-time spot-kick took Newcastle's FA Cup clash with Bournemouth to extra time on Saturday, before Newcastle won on penalties. Two stoppage-time strikes helped Newcastle beat Leeds United 4-3 in the Premier League on Wednesday.
In November, Newcastle's Harvey Barnes scored in the 70th minute to secure a 2-1 league win over City.
"I'd love the semi-final to be one game. Since Eddie Howe took over, look how many games (they have) won in the last minutes. The pride is there, the crowd pushes," Guardiola told reporters ahead of City's visit to Newcastle for Tuesday's first leg.
With City sitting second in the Premier League, six points below Arsenal, Guardiola said he would be cautious not to risk any injuries in the Cup clash.
"Rayan Ait-Nouri has come back from the Africa Cup of Nations but unfortunately lost the connection so he arrived a little bit late. We'll see in the training sessions how he feels and don't want to take risks of players getting injured again," he said.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
