Man City player ratings vs Brentford: Who needs Erling Haaland?! Sublime Rayan Cherki leads Cityzens into Carabao Cup semis as goal machine rests up on the bench

Manchester City cruised into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup as Rayan Cherki inspired them to a 2-0 win over Brentford on Wednesday. The France international opened the scoring with a stunning strike in the first half before a deflected effort from Savinho secured a spot in the final four for Pep Guardiola’s side while Erling Haaland was able to put his feet up and watch on from the bench.

Haaland was among a number of regulars to be named as substitutes by Guardiola, but side began in a positive manner as Cherki fired wide before Oscar Bobb shot straight at goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson. City were, however, lucky not to have Abdukodir Khusanov sent off when he brought down a goalbound Kevin Schade, with there no VAR to intervene after the Uzbekistan defender was shown a yellow card.

Cherki was at the heart of everything City did well, and after he stung Valdimarrsson’s palms from range, he eventually found the net when he lashed a shot from 20 yards into the top corner with 32 minutes on the clock.

The home side continued to dominate after the break, and though James Trafford had to be alert to keep out efforts from both Kristoffer Ajer and Schade, Valdimarsson pulled off the best save of the match when he got down quickly to deny Phil Foden. He was powerless to stop Savinho from doubling City’s lead, however, as the Brazilian’s shot hit Ajer and looped over the Brentford ‘keeper to end the match as a contest.

GOAL rates City’s players from the Etihad Stadium…