Overview
- Manchester City beat defending holders Newcastle United 2-0 at St James' Park in the first leg to take control of the semi-final.
- Antoine Semenyo, signed from Bournemouth for around £62–65m, opened the scoring for his second goal in two City appearances.
- A second Semenyo finish was disallowed after a lengthy VAR review that judged Erling Haaland offside and impeding, a call Pep Guardiola publicly criticised.
- Rayan Cherki sealed the result with a stoppage-time strike after Newcastle had hit the woodwork through Yoane Wissa and Bruno Guimaraes.
- Chris Kavanagh officiated with Stuart Attwell on VAR, and the return leg is set for February 4 at the Etihad, where Newcastle must overturn the deficit.