Manchester City Beat Newcastle 2-0 As Antoine Semenyo Continues Scoring Streak
Antoine Semenyo continued his impressive start at Manchester City, scoring for the second consecutive game as City defeated Newcastle 2-0 in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final at St James’ Park.
Semenyo opened the scoring in the 53rd minute and later had another effort disallowed, before substitute Rayan Cherki sealed the win in stoppage time, giving Pep Guardiola’s side a strong advantage over the defending champions.
The Ghana international had marked his City debut with a goal in the 10-1 FA Cup thrashing of Exeter City just days earlier.
The first half offered few clear chances. Newcastle’s best opportunity came in the opening five minutes when Anthony Gordon’s cross found Yoane Wissa, whose hurried shot flew over the bar. Both goalkeepers, James Trafford for City and Nick Pope for Newcastle, were largely untroubled.
Newcastle were hit by injury on the verge of halftime, with Jacob Murphy replaced by the in-form Harvey Barnes. Early in the second half, Wissa nearly made amends for his earlier miss, seeing a header tipped onto the woodwork by Trafford. Bruno Guimaraes also rattled the post as the Magpies searched for the opener.
City broke the deadlock moments later. Jeremy Doku’s low cross took a slight deflection off Bernardo Silva and fell to Semenyo, who tapped in from close range to score his second goal in as many games.
Semenyo later appeared to double his tally with a clever flick from a corner, but after a VAR review, referee Chris Kavanagh ruled it out due to Erling Haaland being offside. The decision briefly lifted Newcastle’s players and fans, with Sandro Tonali narrowly missing a chance late in the game.
Cherki then forced a save from Pope before ultimately scoring in stoppage time, ensuring City took a two-goal cushion back to the Etihad Stadium ahead of the second leg.
