Manchester City Beat Bristol City 2-1 in Carabao Cup; Sergio Aguero Nets Winner

Manchester City took the early initiative in their Carabao Cup semi-final against Bristol City on Tuesday and will take a 2-1 advantage to Ashton Gate later this month following their win at the Etihad Stadium. 

Lee Johnson's underdogs took a surprise lead when Bobby Reid converted from the penalty spot just before the break, and Sergio Aguero came on to bag a 92nd-minute winner after Kevin De Bruyne levelled early in the second half.

The Robins will welcome City to Ashton Gate for the return leg on Tuesday, January 23. Chelsea will play host to Arsenal on Wednesday evening in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final clash.

Citizens manager Pep Guardiola lined up without a recognised striker to begin with as Bernardo Silva joined regular starters Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling in a front three, the latter slotting in as the most central of those.

De Bruyne and John Stones retained their places in the XI, but there were widespread changes for the Premier League leaders as Yaya Toure, Ilkay Gundogan and Eliaquim Mangala also got nods. Attacking midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko also made his fifth appearance of the season at left-back.

The absence of a traditional striker resulted in a different approach from City, although James Robson of the Manchester Evening News debated that may not have been a bad thing:

The opening 25 minutes saw the Citizens stack up scoring chances in their favour, with Sane, in particular, enjoying fruit down the left flank and giving Bristol City captain Bailey Wright all kinds of problems at right-back.

Wright was also fortunate not to give away a penalty around the half-hour mark when Stones went down in the area under his mark, replays showing the Bristol man was guilty of handling the England defender.

Zinchenko was impressive for periods at left-back and constantly provided options going forward, but Mangala put Bravo's goal in peril attempting to seek out his team-mates on the flank.

His pass was intercepted, and Stones lunged in to hack down Reid before he could get a one-on-one with Bravo. Those Bristol fans who didn't make the trip were understandably overjoyed to see Reid tuck the resulting spot-kick calmly into the bottom-left, via BBC Radio Bristol:

There didn't appear to be any grave need for Stones to go down when he did, with Reid lacking in support and not lining up to shoot, but it was Mangala's missed pass that seeded a sense of panic in the City defence.

City almost found their equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Silva and Sterling exchanged a neat one-two into the box, but the latter man's lob was superbly cleared by centre-back Aden Flint tracking back to head away.

Bristol took their lead in at the break, although Squakwa evidenced just how dominant the hosts were for most of the opening period:

It wasn't long into the second period that Bristol's hard work in finding the opener was cancelled out, however, by a De Bruyne equaliser in the 55th minute.

Of all people, the Belgian was shown acres of space near halfway and seared down on the Bristol area, exchanging a one-two with Sterling before firing inside Frankie Fielding's right post, improving his League Cup record further, per OptaJoe:

From there, one might have expected the Etihad juggernaut to kick on and make up for the missed opportunities of the first half, but Guardiola's side continued to give off a more frustrated feel than usual.

Changes to the regular XI didn't help, but Bristol were more than happy to stand toe-to-toe with the Premier League leaders for the most part, and the club's travelling support were in the mood to cause a stir:

Aguero came on in place of Toure with 20 minutes left, but even the club's record goalscorer couldn't provide the focal point in attack the home side appeared to be crying out for.

But who else would be in the right place at the right time as Silva's cross in from the right met the Argentinian's head? Former Scotland hero Ally McCoist hailed the South American striker's instinct on BBC Radio 5 live Sport:

It was a savage blow for Bristol to suffer so late in the fixture, having worked so tirelessly to protect Fielding's goal, only for City's strength off the bench to have a say that almost felt inevitable.

Johnson's tactics almost did their part for the 90 minutes, but the Bristol manager will nevertheless be hopeful of his side giving the top-flight titans a run for their money at Ashton Gate in a fortnight's time.