Pep Guardiola brings Manchester City one step closer to winning the EFL Cup in four consecutive years

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer built Manchester United’s quarter-finals at Everton by admitting his desperation to lift any trophies. The same cannot be said for Manchester City.

Not in terms of recent history, anyway, and that phrase uttered by Solskjaer symbolizes the shift of power in this part of the world. City have been patted on the head for picking up five of the last seven League Cups, but what others wouldn’t give for just one.

It is an inferior competition. Obviously it is. One that Pep Guardiola even suggested throwing out entirely not too long ago, but as long as those silverware are left on the shelf, he will always struggle to hold onto. They aspire to become the first team since conquering Liverpool of the ’80s to win this in four consecutive seasons.

Guardiola wants to accumulate numbers for inherited purposes, for purely selfish reasons, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

This year, however, winning in the last eight has a little additional significance due to their unusual tribulations in the Premier League. It offers momentum, of which there hasn’t been much recently. One night to face Arsenal; complacent to Arsenal.

The City manager changed the discourse of his attackers lacking pace for lack of momentum over the weekend, when despite a creditable win at Southampton, they still blew many opportunities, and by that he was presumably referring to muscle memory versus to the goal.

Recently, they have been deficient in the final product, scoring more than twice in a domestic game just once since September. That junk record was emphatically broken, eventually, anyway.

Gabriel Jesús scored a first goal in 10 hours of football in three minutes, but then lost a blatant opportunity when it was 1-1. A first half to reflect the City season: all the ball, missed opportunities, stupid goals conceded. Unlike previous blips, they reacted.

“Goals are something special,” Guardiola said, rubbing his thumb and forefinger. It’s the touch, the fluidity. We are closer to having it when we win games. ‘

Closer doesn’t necessarily mean close and it is only through sheer interference that City will emerge from this sticky spell in the final third.

“It’s like Manchester, raining every day. For one day, the sun rises. It does not mean that the climate will change. It is only a game. So we will see what happens in the future, but we are happy to be in the semi-finals again, four years in a row. ”

Guardiola involves the youngsters in the earlier rounds (Liam Delap, Cole Palmer, Tommy Doyle and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have all appeared this year), but the boys are rarely seen in the later stages.

This was an opportunity for those on the periphery to make a claim. Many did not, notably midfielder Aymeric Laporte, whose positional error in Alexandre Lacazette’s tie again increased John Stones’ stock.

Phil Foden did it, however, with an incomparable dart from a center bunk and a deft clip on the hapless Alex Runarsson. These are the kinds of moments a young man can produce when he is allowed a break to express himself.

City needed him now, ahead only because of Runarsson’s howl minutes before. However, as Guardiola has pointed out, victories of any kind will improve their game in the coming weeks, and this competition has given them a lot of joy over the years.

Fans drench every disappointing result in the league or in Europe with irony: “We will always have the Carabao.”

This year, progression feels a little more important. More therapy than legacy, but important nonetheless.