Lisandro Martinez delighted as Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest in Carabao Cup semi-final

Manchester United are back to winning ways as they get one step closer to the Carabao Cup final after a 3-0 victory against Nottingham Forest.

After a comfortable 90 minutes in United’s first visit to the City Ground since 1999, goals from Marcus Rashford, Wout Weghorst and Bruno Fernandes give the Reds a three-goal lead going into next Wednesday’s semi-final second leg.

It was a first clean sheet for Erik ten Hag’s men since the quarter-final of the Cup against Charlton Athletic, with Lisandro Martinez given Man of the Match.

Post-match, Martinez said: “I’m really happy with the job of the team. We played so good today. We controlled the game, but we still have many things to improve.”

Shortly after Rashford’s opener, the hosts thought they’d levelled things up, though Sam Surridge’s goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

On the disallowed goal, Martinez said: “You can see when we don’t do the right things, we can concede goals. Like I said, still, we have many things to improve, and we have to keep going.”

In their previous two outings, United dropped points in back-to-back games in London, however, players like Martinez have brought steel to Ten Hag’s side.

“Against Crystal Palace [we conceded] in the last minute, same as against Arsenal. But we’re never going to give up.

“I’m really happy because [because] we showed discipline. We were very focused, but we have to always play like this.”

Attention now turns to the FA Cup for Martinez and Co, with Reading travelling to Old Trafford on Sunday.

Looking ahead, the Argentina international said: “It’s a good result but we have to go step by step. Now we have another game, we have to prepare again.”

Written by Aadam Haladh.