Carabao Cup draw LIVE: Man Utd face Charlton as Man City and Newcastle also discover quarter-final opponents

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he was worried when watching the first 15 minutes of the game as Manchester City looked a class above his team but admitted they managed to get back into the game in spite of the final result.

“We played a formation that we haven’t played for a long time, and we had to change in pretty much our last session.” said Klopp post-match. “You could see that, we needed time to adapt.

“In the first 15 minutes we had real problems and that killed our confidence and conviction a little bit.

“The goals we conceded were completely unnecessary. We had good spells and could have scored more goals as well. It’s a result we have to live with now.

“It was a high-intensity game from both teams, that’s normal. We played a good game but not good enough to beat City tonight. That says something but not everything. It’s just how it is.

“There’s a lot we can build on and we can take into the next games and that’s what we’ll do.”

Nathan Ake, spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live following Manchester City’s victory saying: “The last week has been a bit strange, people coming back at different times then straight into having to play an intense game against Liverpool and it’s not easy.

“They have top quality players, we should’ve done better with the goals but we manged to score more than them. There are things to improve but for the first game back it was good. It was another top, top ball from Kevin [De Bruyne] and I had to score that one.

“You’ve been away for a month and the national team is different, then suddenly you are straight back in it. Strange but good, as a player you want to be involved in major tournaments like that.”

Post match reaction from Andy Robertson who said: “There were positives, creating chances, sometimes we looked good on the ball but there were mistakes as well. It’s our first game back in a long time and it’s not often you’re first game back is against Manchester City.

“We wanted to stay in this cup, we know how much joy it brought us last season. Ultimately disappointing but when we look at the clips we will be able to take positives.

“It’s a good game, both sets of players were out on their feet, we always raise our games against each other. We didn’t start great, go behind, Fabio scored a fabulous goal, we went behind early in the second half, reacted so well, had a couple of chances, then we switched off at a short corner.

“These are things that can’t happen - their changing room will be a lot happier than ours.”

Manchester City goalscorer Riyad Mahrez spoke to Sky Sports after the game saying: “It’s always good to score and to help the team win. Overall we were very good today and deserved to win.

“Everyone came back with a very good mentality and ready to start again. It was a tough opponent to start with.

“We’ve beaten Chelsea and Liverpool [in the Carabao Cup already] so we’ll see [who we get in the next round]. But we’ll take it game by game and concentrate on the next Premier League game, which is the most important one for us at the moment.”

Nathan Ake headed the winner as Manchester City edged out rivals Liverpool 3-2 in a five-goal thriller to claim a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

The Dutchman turned in a superb Kevin De Bruyne cross just before the hour at the Etihad Stadium to put City ahead for a third and decisive time in absorbing contest on Thursday.

Liverpool had cancelled out earlier City goals from the prolific Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez through Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah respectively.

City’s victory ended Liverpool’s reign as holders and kept Pep Guardiola’s side on course for a fifth victory in the competition in six seasons.

Premier League referees’ chief Howard Webb is keen to look at how more ex-professional players in England can be enticed into officiating.

Much was made of Polish referee Szymon Marciniak’s amateur playing background as praise was heaped on him for his confident performance in last Sunday’s World Cup final.

Webb, who mentored Marciniak earlier in his career, believes making a greater effort to entice ex-pros into refereeing could help raise standards and help keep the production line of officials going.

It is a moot point how many of the world’s best managers are found at the World Cup these days but two of the finest were found in the Carabao Cup, shifting attention back to domestic duty in typically compelling fashion. This is not the trophy Pep Guardiola has admitted he needs to complete his time at Manchester City. But, while he dreams of the Champions League, he moved closer to a record fifth League Cup, eliminating the holders Liverpool FC and beating his old nemesis Jurgen Klopp.

It was the night the club game returned with a vengeance, wresting the attention from its international counterpart, suggesting the standards can be higher here, illustrating that many of the sport’s finest forwards were not seen in Qatar in the last month. Three of them scored, in Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Mohamed Salah, though the match-winner was the only World Cup quarter-finalist to start, in Nathan Ake.

Arguably the evening’s outstanding figure was one of the World Cup’s great underachievers, in Kevin de Bruyne, who set up City’s first and third goals. Having controversially, if correctly, deemed Belgium too old to succeed in Qatar, he looks likelier to secure silverware in the colours of his club.

If it is a time of year for Christians to celebrate, Christian Eriksen has had little to savour this month. He must have imagined his first game of December would be in the last 16 of the World Cup for Denmark, not the last 16 of the Carabao Cup for Manchester United. But, after the anti-climax of underachievement on the global stage, he at least set United on the path to a less prestigious trophy. He may have dreamt of facing Argentina; instead he struck against Burnley.

A scorer of three goals in Qatar, Marcus Rashford maintained his fine form, capping a 50-yard solo run with a strike to see off the Clarets and life after Cristiano Ronaldo began with a comfortable win. With three of the supposed big six already out and another set to follow on Thursday, United have reasons to believe their debut season under Erik ten Hag can bring glory.

They eased back into action and if others will be searching for a blend between those who have had five weeks off, those who were unused, underused or unsuccessful in the World Cup and those who ventured deep into the tournament, Ten Hag found a formula. He started with five of his World Cup contingent, including three quarter-finalists: Rashford scored, Bruno Fernandes starred with some incisive passing and Casemiro strolled through the game, slotting in at centre-back in the absence of the ill Harry Maguire. He conjured a goal-line clearance after the error-prone, erratic Martin Dubravka came for, and missed, a cross.

Quarter-finals: Week commencing 9th January 2023

Semi-finals: First-leg - week commencing 23rd January; second-leg - week commencing 30th January

Final: Sunday February 26th 2023

The draw for the next round of the Carabao Cup is coming up at around 10:30pm. Here are the teams left in the competition and what number they’ve been allocated for the draw.

1. Charlton Athletic

2. Leicester City

3. Manchester United

4. Newcastle United

5. Nottingham Forest

6. Southampton

7. Wolverhampton Wanderers

8. Manchester City