Man Utd take charge of EFL Cup semi

Manchester United have taken control of their EFL Cup semi-final tie after they beat Hull City 2-0 in the first leg at Old Trafford.

Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini got the goals which the hosts’ dominance merited on a night when the Tigers, under new boss Marco Silva, aimed to leave Manchester with the tie in the balance.

Despite Jose Mourinho’s side creating several chances in the first half, with the otherwise impressive Henrikh Mhkitaryan guilty of wasting a couple of them, the visitors went in at the break level and buoyed by coming closest to opening the scoring, Adama Diomande’s header coming back off the post although there was confusion as to whether he would have been signalled for offside if the ball had gone into the net.

However, on 56 minutes Juan Mata put Utd in front – although there was a hint of offside about his far-post tap-in.

Substitute Marouane Fellaini guided home a lovely header near the end for his first goal of the season and to give his side a stranglehold on this tie.

The second leg will take place at the KCOM Stadium on Thursday week and Hull will need to produce something very special to deny Utd a place in the final.

The scale of the task facing Hull was emphasised when the team sheets were handed in, the basement dwellers only having 14 fit professionals to choose from, with 17-year-old full-back Josh Tymon picked to play in midfield.

By contrast, Mourinho was able to compensate for the absence of top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic through illness with a return for Wayne Rooney. The England forward was joined in an attacking starting line-up by Marcus Rashford, Henrik Mkhitaryan and Mata; Anthony Martial was forced to settle for a place on the bench.

They started well with Matteo Darmian threatening down the left, creating early opportunities for Mata and Rashford, the former denied by a sharp stop by Eldin Jakupovic, the latter skewing his strike.

Mata turned provider soon after as he and Mkhitaryan in particular produced some lovely one-touch football, but the Armenian sidefooted wide from close range.

Diomande's header against the post and a shot from Abel Hernandez - which David de Gea saved comfortably - reminded Utd that Hull were also an attacking threat.

But on 56 minutes the home side had the lead, Antonio Valencia drove down the right and his cross found Mkhitaryan who produced a lovely header under pressure with Mata tapping in at the back post.

The impressive Paul Pogba thought he had doubled the advantage when he let fly from a free-kick but his curling strike crashed back off the post and away from danger.

It looked like Hull would restrict Utd to just a one-goal lead for the second leg until Fellaini's late intervention and the Belgian ran straight to Mourinho to celebrate with the man who has stood by him through tough times this campaign.

Photo: Getty/Matthew Ashton

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