A STUNNING early goal by Bernardo Silva and two more later in the first half gave Manchester City a convincing 3-1 win over local rival Manchester United in Tuesday’s League Cup semifinal first leg at Old Trafford, putting City on track to reach the final of the much-maligned competition — which it won in 2018 and 2019 — for the third consecutive year.

The sides will meet again for the semifinal, second leg Jan. 29.

City boss Pep Guardiola remains wary after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men recovered from losing 2-0 at home to Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s Champions League last 16 to progress.

“It’s a good result, but it is not over because it is United,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“Last season is a good example against PSG. Hopefully, in front of our fans, we can make a good game and reach the final.”

The long-distance strike from Portuguese midfielder Silva came just 17 minutes into the contest. The right-footed rocket past David de Gea gave the United keeper no chance.

Routinely derided in England as “The Mickey Mouse Cup,” the League Cup ranks well behind the FA Cup — and obviously the all-important Premier League — in terms of domestic and international prestige. But with the Prem title seemingly well out of reach for both Manchester titans, and a trip to Wembley Stadium on the line for the victor, this home-and-home series between the historic enemies, which concludes Jan. 29 at City’s place, always felt like the real deal.

After using a side made up mostly of reserves in last weekend’s 4-1 FA Cup third round cakewalk over fourth-tier Port Vale, Guardiola went with a far stronger starting 11 for the short trip across town. Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling came back in, with forwards Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus on the bench.

United’s Solskjaer also reverted to a near-full-strength 11. The main exception was US$100 million center back Harry Maguire, who was rested by Solskjaer after tweaking something in Saturday’s scoreless FA Cup stalemate against Wolves. When the whistle blew, though, it was clear that only the visitors had come to play.

Despite setting up without an out-and-out striker, City dominated right out the gates. That continued after Silva’s worldie. It didn’t take long for Riyad Mahrez to double the visitors’ advantage, and with the aggregate lead already well in hand, United’s misery was compounded by an own goal from Andreas Pereira that made it 3-0 before a quarter of the two-leg affair had elapsed.

City was so superior in every way that Solskjaer’s lone halftime substitution was designed not to close the gap but rather stop the bleeding.(SD-Agencies)