English League Cup: Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle to the semi-finals

Liverpool continued their title defence and reached the semi-finals of the English Football League Cup after beating hosts Southampton 2-1 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

The Reds continued their unbeaten run of 20 matches in all competitions, leading the league by two points over Chelsea and having a game in hand, and are also leading the unified group in the Champions League and have largely secured direct qualification to the last 16.

Darwin Nunez opened the scoring after full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold advanced to just before the halfway line and played a long cross that the defence failed to clear and reached the Uruguayan international, who was alone, prepared the ball and shot it into the net of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (24).

Harvey Elliott added the second goal after a pass from Dutchman Cody Gakpo, who shot it powerfully with his right foot from inside the area to the right of goalkeeper McCarthy (32).

Cameron Archer reduced the deficit after an individual effort on the left side and a beautiful shot to the right of Northern Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher (59).

In turn, Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus led his team Arsenal to the semi-finals by scoring a hat-trick to beat its neighbor Crystal Palace 3-2.

Jesus (27 years old) scored the three goals (hat-trick) in the 54th, 73rd and 81st minutes after Crystal Palace took the lead through Frenchman Jean-Philippe Mateta four minutes after the start of the match, while his substitute teammate, former Gunners player Edward Nketiah, scored a second goal (85).

Arsenal, who won two titles (1986-1987 and 1992-1993), managed to reach the semi-finals for the first time since the 2021-2022 season, when they were eliminated by Liverpool, the then-crowned champion and title holder in the last edition.

Newcastle qualified for the same round after defeating Brentford with three goals by Italian Sandro Tonali (9 and 43) and Swiss Fabian Schar (69) against one goal by Democratic Congolese Yoanne Wissa (90+1).

This is the first time Newcastle have reached the semi-finals since the 2022-2023 season, in which they finished runners-up for the second time in their history after the 1975-1976 season.
(Agencies)