Man Utd hit five past Leicester to reach Carabao QF in Ruud's first game

Manchester United responded to Erik ten Hag’s sacking by thrashing a weakened Leicester side 5-2 to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in a convincing first game for interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Poor finishing was to blame for Sunday’s defeat to West Ham, Ten Hag’s final match, but United rediscovered their confidence in front of goal under Van Nistelrooy, helped by Steve Cooper making nine changes ahead of Leicester’s trip to Ipswich in the Premier League.

Casemiro lifted a sombre Old Trafford with a corker of a shot from distance, opening the scoring by firing the ball right into the top corner. Alejandro Garnacho quickly followed that up as he doubled United’s lead, smashing in from Diogo Dalot’s cross off the right.

Bruno Fernandes, without a goal before this game, scored twice on the night, his first was a free-kick, helped in by a deflection four minutes after Leicester pulled oe back through Bilal El Khannouss. Casemiro then pounced on a rebound to add his second soon after.

Fernandes’ second strike was another timely intervention with United on the back foot after Conor Coady pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage-time. The United captain rounded Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward, before firing in from close-range.

United, winners of the Carabao Cup under Ten Hag in 2023, showed no sign of letting the speculation around prospective new manager Ruben Amorim distract them, keeping up their impressive cup form. Leicester, meanwhile, clearly have other priorities.

Van Nistelrooy: We had luck on our side

Manchester United interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy:

“We scored some great goals, the first one was a beauty from Casemiro. I have to also say that we had some luck as well.

“Two posts and it comes to Casemiro’s feet and Bruno’s free-kick is deflected and it’s in, but it’s the first one for him after a long time so I’m so happy for him that he’s on the scoresheet twice.

“Five goals but against West Ham, Fenerbahce and Brentford we created so much more bigger chances. All of a sudden we had some luck on our side, that made it a great day.”

Cooper: We were dominant but gave United chances to hurt us

Leicester City boss Steve Cooper:

“I just said to the guys we can’t make mistakes like we did. There were lots of phases in the game we were completely dominant. United are a counter-attacking team, they have really good players and we gave them too many moments to hurt us.

“You look at the second half we were absolutely dominant. United did not get in our half and then we gave away a goal.

“I know this season is going to be a little bit like tonight – you do some really good things but then you have setbacks and mistakes. But we have to make sure we really focus on getting the good moments and good results. It’s always about looking forward.”