Manchester City 5-0 Norwich City: Samba, 17, scores twice on debut in the Carabao Cup

Manchester City opened their Carabao Cup campaign the way a Premier League club with Champions League football is supposed to: by handing the job to the squad and watching it get done. Norwich City did not register a shot on target at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night, and City won 5-0 with a team that gave a 17-year-old his first senior start and a second debutant a goal and an assist.

The teenager was Floyd Samba. He scored twice, in the 29th and 54th minutes, with Allan Elias supplying the first and Rayan Aït-Nouri the second. Allan, also making his debut, then scored himself three minutes into the second half, again with Aït-Nouri as the creator. It was an evening on which the two newcomers shared the headlines with the creator who set up both of them.

Goal by goal

• 29' — Floyd Samba, header (assist: Allan Elias) 1-0
• 32' — Rayan Cherki (assist: Ayyoub Bouaddi) 2-0
• 48' — Allan Elias (assist: Rayan Aït-Nouri) 3-0
• 54' — Floyd Samba (assist: Rayan Aït-Nouri) 4-0
• 90' — Ryan McAidoo (assist: Nico O'Reilly) 5-0

The first half was the only part of the night that asked any questions. City were ahead after 29 minutes and doubled the lead within three, when Ayyoub Bouaddi played in Rayan Cherki for the second. After that the tie was effectively settled. Norwich's Kellen Fisher was booked in the 30th minute, the only card of the night, and the visitors spent the rest of the evening defending deep against a side that completed 708 of its 761 passes.

Line-ups

The numbers

Six shots on target from City, none from Norwich. The pass-completion gap, 93 per cent to under 82, says as much about how the game was played as the scoreline does: City moved the ball around a Norwich side that rarely got close enough to win it back.

A debut worth remembering

Samba's night will be the one that gets replayed. At 17, scoring twice in a first senior appearance, the opener with his head, is the sort of start that gets an academy player noticed well beyond the club. The cup is where City can afford to try it: a third-round tie at home is as low-risk a stage as the calendar offers.

The same goes for Allan, who started the move for the opener and finished the third goal. Ryan McAidoo, a substitute, then added the fifth in the 90th minute from a pass by Nico O'Reilly, one of the few senior regulars in the XI. Kaden Braithwaite also came on, and the City bench included Marc Guéhi, Enzo Fernández and Antoine Semenyo among the names in the match-day squad.

Where this fits in City's autumn

City came into the match four days after a 1-0 win at Manchester United in the Premier League and went into the next league weekend facing Sunderland, a game they won 5-3 at the Etihad on 20 September. Against that backdrop, a five-goal night with a rotated side was a useful reminder of the depth behind the first team, not a break from routine. As a Premier League club in European competition, City entered the Carabao Cup at the third round, so this was their first game of the tournament.

Norwich used all five of their substitutes, Paris Maghoma, Anthony Musaba, Ruairi McConville, Mohamed Toure and Oscar Schwartau, but never found a way to test the City goal.

What's next

Manchester City go into the fourth round, to be played on 27-29 October 2026, and the draw sent them to a home tie with Brighton & Hove Albion. Norwich's cup run is over.