Manchester City Top Manchester United 3-1 in Leg 1 of Carabao Cup Semi-Final

Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-1 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday at Old Trafford.

The defending champions ran rampant in the first half and took the lead in style when Bernardo Silva curled a fabulous strike into the top corner after just 20 minutes.

Riyad Mahrez rounded goalkeeper David De Gea to make it 2-0, while an Andreas Pereira own goal ensured the visitors went in at the break with a healthy lead.

Manchester United managed to pull one back through Marcus Rashford, but it's City who have the advantage heading into the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City started without a recognised striker in their starting XI, leaving both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus on the bench. Guardiola opted to start with Bernardo in attack alongside Raheem Sterling and Mahrez and it proved a masterstroke by the Manchester City boss.

The Portugal international broke the deadlock with a sumptuous strike that gave De Gea no chance. He received the ball from Kyle Walker, nudged the ball on to his left foot and placed an unstoppable strike past De Gea (video UK only):

The 25-year-old then turned provider to tee up Mahrez for Manchester City's second. Bernardo picked up possession in the centre circle and threaded a ball for Mahrez to calmly round the United goalkeeper and knock into an empty net:

Another quick Manchester City break brought their third goal on 38 minutes. Mahrez played in Kevin De Bruyne inside the penalty area, who turned past Phil Jones and left the defender on the turf. De Gea managed to block the Belgian's shot, but the rebound hit Pereira and rolled into the net:

The visitors continued to attack and could have had more goals before the break. De Gea denied Bernardo at close range with a fine stop, while Sterling was inches away from connecting with a De Bruyne cross at the far post:

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a change at half-time by bringing on Nemanja Matic for Jesse Lingard, but Manchester City continued to dominate until a drop in intensity allowed the hosts to pull one back.

The Red Devils took advantage of some unusual sloppy play in midfield between De Bruyne and Rodri, allowing Mason Greenwood to slip in Rashford to fire a low shot across goal and past Claudio Bravo:

Rashford's goal will give United a glimmer of hope they can produce a comeback in the second leg to knock their local rivals out, but it will need a significant improvement from Solskjaer's side who were outclassed for the majority of the 90 minutes.

What's Next?

Manchester United play Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday at Old Trafford, while Manchester City are back in action on Sunday at Aston Villa.