Manchester City reached the League Cup final after recovering from a shaky start as Sergio Aguero’s brilliant header sealed a 3-1 win over Everton in the semi-final second leg yesterday to clinch a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Ross Barkley’s bullish run and powerful finish put Everton ahead on the night after 18 minutes, but the lead was soon wiped out when Fernandinho’s effort was deflected into the visitors’ net.
If that was a lucky break for City, they were even more fortunate when Kevin de Bruyne side-footed them level in the tie after replays showed the ball had gone out of play before being cut back for the Belgian to score after 70 minutes.
City’s third goal, however, was all about the brilliance of striker Aguero, who angled a superb header into the corner to set up a final against Liverpool on February 28 at Wembley.
With only a slender first-leg lead to defend, Everton, who have never won the League Cup, resisted any temptation to sit back and had made a handful of threatening breaks before Barkley put them ahead.
City had looked sluggish and there was little evidence they were capable of dragging themselves back into the tie before Fernandinho restored parity on the night six minutes later.
Aguero’s strike from outside the box cannoned back into the path of the Brazilian whose shot took a deflection off Leighton Baines and looped away from Everton keeper Joel Robles into the net.
Far from inspiring a relentless City onslaught, however, the goal did little to enliven the hosts, al-though they did finally get some momentum at the start of the second half before De Bruyne put them 2-1 ahead on 70 minutes.
Replays, however, showed the goal should not have stood as Raheem Sterling had let the ball run out of play before pulling it back for the Belgian substitute to lash home.
De Bruyne, who was carried off on a stretcher before the end with a knee injury, was the architect of Aguero’s decisive goal, curling a cross in for the Argentine to leap and angle a superb header into the far corner from 10 metres.
Three-times League Cup winners City reached the final of the competition for the second time in three years and will face record eight-times winners Liverpool, who came through on penalties against Stoke on Tuesday.