Newcastle vs Manchester City - Carabao Cup semi-final RECAP: All the reaction as Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo give Pep Guardiola's side the upper hand as VAR farce mars St James' Park contest

'Ohhhhhh, we're halfway there...'

Sing it with me, guys. Well, I imagine only Manchester City fans will feel like belting that out. Newcastle supporters will be rather flat as I type this post.

The holders are 90 minutes away from being knocked out of the competition that brought them so much joy last campaign.

Let's be real, the Magpies are going to have to put on the perfect performance at the Etihad next week, something they never manage to do, to be even in with a sniff of the League Cup final.

Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki's goals have put City in a commanding position to reach their first Carabao Cup final since 2021.

It should arguably be more than a two-goal cushion, but VAR made a mess when deciding to disallow what seemed like a perfectly valid second Semenyo strike.

Anyway, I don't imagine it will affect the tie too much.

I'm now heading off, but thank you for joining us on yet another eventful night of cup football.

See you all tomorrow at Stamford Bridge!

If I were a Newcastle fan, I wouldn't bother looking at hotels in London.

Why? Well, it's looking unlikely that a Wembley trip is on the cards.

Manchester City have now won the first leg of each of their last four two-legged League Cup semi-final ties.

They have only failed to reach the final once in the six previous occasions that they have won a semi-final first leg overall in the competition, losing to Manchester United in 2009-10.

It's fair to say, Newcastle beat almost a miracle to turn this around. Or am I being dramatic?

We could talk about the disallowed goal all night, but that would be no fun, would it?

Instead, I'd rather talk about two stars in the making: Abdukodir Khusanov and Max Alleyne.

The two centre-backs were simply immense tonight.

With the two youngsters in the centre of defence, Manchester City became the first backline to stop Newcastle scoring at home this season. That takes some doing, you know.

In all honesty, Newcastle didn't really look like scoring, bar a few near moments that were few and far between.

If I were Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol, I'd be a little worried about my starting spot.

The young guns are coming for them.

Right, let's talk about it.

Antoine Semenyo believes his second goal, which was disallowed, should have counted... and he's spot on.

I have watched the replays at least 10 times now, and I still don't understand how Erling Haaland interferes with play. Malick Thiaw is getting nowhere near Semenyo's flick anyway, and neither is Nick Pope.

The fact that it took VAR three minutes to send referee Chris Kavanagh tells you everything you need to know - it was not a clear and obvious error, the goal should have stood.

Had Rayan Cherki not scored at the end there, I imagine Pep Guardiola would have been a lot more miffed at Kavanagh and the officials. But I think they have enough of a cushion that the controversial mistake should not have an impact on the tie.

And at least we got a good clip out of it too, with Semenyo telling Sky cameras on the pitch that it should have stood. Love that.

Another case of VAR making a mess of things.

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