Much-maligned Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo’s penalty-shootout heroics ensured the Citizens avoided an upset in their Carabao Cup pre-quarters against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola started Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero together up top but duo was unable to live up to their billing as after 120 minutes, the sides were deadlocked at 0-0.

City, who have demolished all in the Premier League, were dominating their opponents from the Championship but somehow could not find the back of the net.

Wolves, coincidentally topping the second-tier Championship, had an impressive rearguard action and while they weren’t exactly adventurous, they did almost score on a rare foray into the City half. 

Elaquim Mangala, who has found playing time limited under Guardiola for the past two seasons, was robbed of possession by Wolves’ 19-year-old forward Bright Enobakhare near the City box and the Nigerian was through on goal.

Bravo, however, saved Mangala’s blushes with a fine stop to prevent Wolves from taking a shock lead just before half-time.

City continued to dominate in the second-half but for for the first time this season, were unable to score over the course of 90 minutes.

As the match went into extra-time, the hosts bombarded the Wolves goal but to no avail and the match went to the lottery the is the penalty-shootout.

Wolves shot first, and Brazilian forward Leonardo Bonatini sent Bravo the wrong way to give the Championship side the lead. City would have the next two and both attempts were promptly despatched by Kevin De Bruyne and Yaya Toure.

Bravo would then fly to his right to make an incredible stop to deny Alfred N’Diaye and then followed it up with another save from Conor Coady to give City the impetus at a crucial juncture.
Leroy Sane’s effort flew into the net off the post and Sergio Aguero’s dinked effort would then seal the win for City with a 4-1 scoreline in the shootout.

After playing a draining 120 minutes in mid-week, City have little time to recover as they travel to West Bromwiwch Albion on Saturday and will look to keep their winning streak intact at the Hawthorns.