Rashford’s brilliant form continues as Man United thump Nottingham Forest in Carabao Cup semifinal

Manchester United march towards EFL Cup final with three-goal win at Nottingham Forest

After defeating Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the first leg of their semifinal at the City Ground, Manchester United is now only 90 minutes away from the Carabao Cup final.

Manchester United defeated Nottingham Forest by a score of three at the City Ground to move closer to appearing in the EFL Cup final at Wembley next month. Marcus Rashford’s incredible scoring spree continued there.

Six minutes into the first leg of the semi-final, Rashford’s spectacular solo effort handed United the lead.

Had Sam Surridge’s first-half goal, which would have tied the game at 1, not been overturned by VAR for offside, the score could have been considerably closer. However, United was confident throughout and can now begin to anticipate a matchup with Southampton or Newcastle at Wembley next month.

Just before halftime, Wout Weghorst scored his first club goal to add a second, and Bruno Fernandes completed the scoring one minute later to give Erik ten Hag’s team a commanding lead heading back to Old Trafford. The second leg of the semifinal between Manchester United and Nottingham Forest will take place at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The winner advances to the final against either Newcastle United or Southampton.

Ten Hag is poised to win his first title for the club and perhaps the first one available to him as manager after losing three consecutive domestic semifinal matches under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The historians can also include Sir Alex Ferguson’s victory over Forest in the 1990 FA Cup final on his route to winning his first trophy as manager of United.

The style of this triumph, though, was another proof that the team is back on track after so many years of underperformance, even though United and Ten Hag have yet to win anything.

Since returning from the World Cup, Rashford has scored 10 goals in as many games, confirming his standing as one of England’s top players at the moment.

He now stands at the top of the list of top scorers after scoring his sixth goal in this competition alone.

Weghorst has every right to be proud of himself as well because he was the first to react after Wayne Hennessey stopped Antony’s low shot and scored on the rebound. In addition, substitutes Facundo Pellistri and Anthony Elanga both contributed to Fernandes’ low shot that was deflected past Wayne Hennessey.

The joy of Ten Hag by punching the air highlighted how important that third goal was.

Although Steve Cooper’s hosts took a risky approach, it would seem that they have little chance of following in Brian Clough’s footsteps and making it to the final, which Forest haven’t done since 1992.