Manchester City beat Newcastle 2-0 in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, but the match was marred by a controversial VAR decision that ruled out a goal from Antoine Semenyo.
The £65m January signing opened the scoring in the 53rd minute and appeared to score a second 10 minutes later, flicking Tijjani Reijnders' cross past Nick Pope. However, VAR overturned the goal after a five-and-a-half-minute review, claiming Erling Haaland interfered from an offside position. Haaland had been jostling with Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw, which officials said blocked him from stopping Semenyo's effort.
Semenyo insisted the goal should have counted, while Pep Guardiola said the decision would make his team "stronger." Captain Bernardo Silva also expressed frustration, recalling a previous match at St James’ Park where Phil Foden was wrongly denied a penalty.
City eventually sealed the 2-0 win in stoppage time thanks to Rayan Cherki’s strike.
