Carabao Cup

MANCHESTER UNITED fans slammed Martin Dubravka after he almost cost his side a goal against Burnley.The Red Devils played a weakened team in their first match back after the World Cup break.
Martin Dubravka almost cost a goal after failing to punch the ball clearCredit: Getty
Casemiro cleared off the line after Dubravka’s mistakeCredit: AFP
Erik ten Hag handed starting opportunities to several fringe players, with Dubravka taking David De Gea’s place between the sticks.
And Dubravka had a nightmare first half as he twice produced mistakes that nearly ended in a goal.
First he failed in his attempt to punch a cross clear, and seconds later instead palmed the ball backwards to his own goal.
And if it was not for Casemiro’s last-ditch intervention clearing the ball off the line, it would have gone in.
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Moments later Casemiro passed the ball back to Dubravka, who let the ball run under his foot as he tried to control it.
The ball trickled towards the goalline but the Slovenian was able to reach the ball and find a team-mate.
Fans were shocked by Dubravka’s errors and some claimed he is an inside agent.
One supporter wrote: “This Dubravka guy is an inside agent, why is he here what was that.”
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Another added: “Dubravka is playing against us😂.”
And a third said: “This Dubravka brudda is an agent. Why the hell is he so bad what the hell?”
United led 1-0 at the time of the two incidents thanks to Christian Eriksen’s close-range goal.
Marcus Rashford then doubled the lead after half-time with a superb solo goal.
Dubravka also had a much more comfortable second half and was able to keep his second clean sheet in as many games for United as Ten Hag’s side won 2-0. More

ERIK TEN HAG is set to recall two forgotten men into the Manchester United starting XI to face Burnley tonight.The Red Devils return to competitive action in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag will field an experimental XI against Burnley tonightCredit: Reuters
And the Dutch boss looks on course to hand spots in the starting XI to both Martin Dubravka and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Goalkeeper Dubravka joined United on loan in the summer but made his only appearance in the round-three win over Aston Villa with David De Gea playing the rest of the 20 games.
Dubravka has been on the bench a further nine times while ex-Burnley stopper Tom Heaton has made 16 matchday squads in 2022-23 – but is yet to feature.
At right-back, Wan-Bissaka will make just his second appearance of the season when the Clarets make the short trip to Manchester for the 8pm kick-off.
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The defender came on for the final four minutes of the 2-1 win over Liverpool way back on August 22.
He has been kept out of the team by injury and Diogo Dalot’s form.
But with Dalot reaching the World Cup quarter-finals with Portugal, the former Palace man gets his chance.
Ten Hag knows the Carabao Cup is a realistic shot at ending the Red Devils’ six-year trophy drought.
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Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal all crashed out in the previous round while heavyweights Manchester City and Liverpool face each other tomorrow.
Newcastle, Wolves, Southampton and Leicester booked their spots in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
However, former Etihad skipper Vincent Kompany will be desperate to inflict more pain on rivals United – this time as Burnley boss.
The Belgian has his Turf Moor side flying high, three points clear at the top of the Championship.
Burnley won their first two matches after the World Cup break, scoring three past QPR and Middlesbrough.
For United, though, this is their first competitive match since November 13.
They lost both friendlies during their training camp in Spain, 4-2 to Cadiz and then 1-0 to Real Betis.
Dubravka conceded four against Cadiz while Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Brandon Williams, Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay and Alejandro Garnacho were among the group to start the two defeats.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has played just four minutes of competitive football this seasonCredit: Getty
Martin Dubravka is looking for just his second United appearanceCredit: Getty More

LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has hinted that Virgil van Dijk may not play against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup. Last season’s top two meet on December 22 for both teams’ first competitive match back after the World Cup break.
Jurgen Klopp hinted at Virgil van Dijk being rested for the Premier LeagueCredit: PA
But Klopp has revealed that he could be without a number of key players for the last-16 clash.
The German suggested Van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold may not feature due to their exploits in Qatar.
On the trio playing in the game, Klopp said: “Yeah, there’s a chance, of course – they’ve trained already.
“Hendo [Henderson] is already training here. Virg [Van Dijk] is training here, but I don’t think we will try that.
“Hendo, we will see, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] we will see.
“But this group [has] worked now together for nearly two weeks and we made a real step and that’s cool. I don’t know at this moment.
“I hope we all get through it and we all know in England, and in Europe in general, there’s kind of a virus going around, so we hope we can stay out of that.
“Then we will make the decision obviously on Wednesday who can play on Thursday. It will be a very interesting game after that period [World Cup] but I’m looking forward to it.”
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Van Dijk played every minute of action for the Netherlands as they were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Argentina.
As for Henderson, he played four times for England and Alexander-Arnold featured for just 33 minutes in Qatar.
Liverpool started a number of youngsters in the previous round as they overcame Derby 3-2 on penalties after the match finished goalless.
In the defence, Nat Phillips and Joe Gomez started against the Rams.
They could be needed again as Ibrahima Konate is potentially starting in the World Cup final for France just days before the match versus City. More