EFL Cup: Bristol City beats Manchester United 2-1, face Manchester City in semis
London: Jose Mourinho endured his biggest upset as Manchester United manager on Wednesday when his League Cup defense ended with a loss to second-tier club Bristol City.
The quarterfinal was heading to extra time until Korey Smith brought down Matty Taylor's chipped pass on his chest and unleashed the ball on the turn under United goalkeeper Sergio Romero to grab a 2-1 victory in the third minute of stoppage time.
"A few times I'd made runs in behind and I wasn't being tracked," Smith said. "So I said at halftime to the boys, 'If I make that run look for me and I'll try and get that shot off.' Luckily Tayls (Taylor) made a great ball and it's gone in.
City, which is renowned for elaborate pre-recorded goal celebration GIFs, quickly tweeted out a clip of Smith wearing a Santa hat setting off a streamer that garnered more than 50,000 retweets or likes within an hour.
Celebrations in the stadium were more spontaneous, with thousands of fans flooding onto the field after a game that had seen Joe Bryan's opener for City canceled out by Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the striker's first start of the season. The League Cup was the first trophy won by Mourinho at United.
The reward for City, which is third in the second-tier League Championship, is an even tougher semifinal - against runaway Premier League leader Manchester City.
"I joined the club when we were in League One (in 2014)," Smith said. "We had three stands and obviously we had a great season. And the next year we were in and around the bottom of the (Championship) table.
"This year we've been absolutely brilliant. The younger players are developing and people are coming into their prime. The stadium now is absolutely amazing. It's nice to give the fans a season they're enjoying so far."
The other two-legged semifinal in January is a London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea, which beat Bournemouth 2-1 in Wednesday's other quarterfinal.
Willian tapped in Chelsea's opener in the 13th minute, and extra time was looming after Dan Gosling curled in a 90th-minute leveler.
But Eden Hazard's backheel set up Alvaro Morata for the winner at Stamford Bridge. The striker was booked for excessively celebrating and will be suspended for Saturday's game against Everton due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
