Tottenham Hotspur, who were leading 3-0 and almost saw their advantage slip away, sealed the win against Manchester United with an Olympic goal from Heung-min Son and are now just two games away from breaking a 16-year trophy drought in the League Cup.
Managed by Ange Postecoglou, the Spurs took a crazy game in which they were 3-0 up by the 54th minute, but had to endure some nervous moments due to mistakes from their goalkeeper Fraser Forster, until Son sealed their spot in the semifinals with a corner kick goal.
After beating Manchester City last weekend in Rúben Amorim's best win since arriving at United, the Red Devils came face-to-face with a brace from Solanke—first capitalizing on a poor clearance by Altay Bayindir, then leaving Lisandro Martínez behind, and a goal from Dejan Kulusevski, who scored from a poor clearance by the Argentine, practically sending them out of the cup.
But from the 60th minute on, it became the Forster show, as he gifted two goals in under ten minutes. First, trying to play the ball out, he handed it straight to Bruno Fernandes, who provided the assist for Joshua Zirkzee to pull one back.
There was still plenty of time, and Forster added more tension to the Spurs' nerves with another inexplicable mistake. He took forever to clear the ball, Amad Diallo closed in on him, the ball hit him, and it went straight into the net.
Out of nowhere, a United side that had been totally outplayed was suddenly alive again, and Tottenham was on edge. The Red Devils had a few chances, though none were too clear-cut, but Son, from a corner kick where Bayindir asked for a foul on Lucas Bergvall during the jump, scored the Olympic goal that sealed the game.
In the final moments, on a corner kick, Johnny Evans pulled one back, but there was no time for a miraculous comeback that would have kept United alive, the last time they won this competition was in 2023 against Newcastle United. Tottenham continues to hope they can win a trophy 16 years after their League Cup win under Juande Ramos back in 2008.