Manchester City crushed Norwich City 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium, as the substitutes signed off a night the Citizens’ supporters will never forget, in what proved to be no ordinary third round Carabao Cup tie. 

Enzo Maresca made sweeping changes to his lineup, handing an opportunity to the young faces and substitutes, and the response could hardly have been more emphatic.

Seventeen year old forward, Floyd Samba, the son of former Premier League defender, Chris Samba, enjoyed a dream debut. City had to wait 29 minutes for the breakthrough, when Allan retrieved an overhit cross on the right side of the box and helped the ball back into the danger zone, where Samba’s deft diving header found the bottom left corner.

City’s second goal arrived just three minutes later, with Morocco’s World Cup breakout star, Ayyoub Bouaddi, making just his second start for the club, slipping in Rayan Cherki, who composed himself before slotting past Daniel Grimshaw.

Samba was not finished there. He posted an 8.7 rating after a brace and constant movement in the penalty box. Allan, who joined from Palmeiras for a reported £34.2 million last month, also marked his own debut with a goal. McAidoo then scored the fifth of the night, another academy star joining the party to round off a dominant performance.

Norwich reached the third round after overcoming two previous ties, defeating MK Dons 4-1 in the first round before beating Cardiff City 2-1 away in the second. But they were given little room to breathe at the Etihad. City attempted 761 passes and completed 708, dwarfing Norwich’s 385 attempted and 314 completed. City fired 14 shots to Norwich’s 4, landing 6 on target while Norwich failed to register a single shot on target. Norwich’s compact defence, led by Harry Darling and Bruno Alves, cleared dozens of crosses but was simply overrun as the game wore on.

The result extends City’s remarkable run to 19 consecutive EFL Cup ties against lower league opposition, stretching back to a penalty shootout exit to Brighton, then a third tier club, in the 2008 09 second round.

Fittingly, Brighton will provide the opposition again in the next round, with the emphatic win booking City a blockbuster date against Fabian Hurzeler’s side, a clash eagerly awaited and set to be played late next month.

For Maresca, the win offered further proof of the strength in depth at his disposal as City continue to defend their Carabao Cup crown, while for Samba, Allan and McAidoo, it was the kind of night that can define a career.

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