Wrexham 1-2 Cardiff City: The Bluebirds book quarter-final place after beating rivals in Carabao Cup | OneFootball

Cardiff City have booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup following a thrilling win over Welsh rivals Wrexham at the STōK Cae Ras.

Goals from Yusef Salach and Will Fish secured the Bluebirds’ spot in the last eight of the competition.

As it happened

Ronan Kpakio, Calum Chambers, Ryan Wintle, Joel Colwill, and Cian Ashford were all brought into the starting lineup, making five changes from the side that lost to Bolton Wanderers.

The Bluebirds started brightly, with early efforts from Kellyman and Ruben Colwill blocked by the Wrexham defence. Their dominance was rewarded just before half-time when Salach scored the only goal of the first half.

Colwill nearly doubled the lead with a free-kick from 25 yards that rattled the crossbar. Cardiff finished the half with five shots on target in a dominant first-half display against the Championship side.

Wrexham came close to equalising before the break, with Sam Smith firing wide from 20 yards. Phil Parkinson made three substitutions at the start of the second half, introducing James, Windass, and Kieffer Moore to push for a response. Moore quickly made an impact, heading home to level the score 1-1 just seven minutes after coming off the bench.

Cardiff responded with chances of their own, including a breakaway shot from Cian Ashford that was saved by Burton. Wrexham continued to apply pressure and had more possession in the second half, but Cardiff held firm.

The decisive moment came in the 71st minute when Fish scored to secure a 2-1 victory, sending the Bluebirds into the quarter-finals. This marks the first time since 2011 that Cardiff have reached this stage, having defeated Blackburn Rovers 2-0 in the semi-finals that year.

Cardiff will learn their quarter-final opponents tomorrow evening after Newcastle United face Tottenham.

The lineups

WRE: Burton; Cleworth, Coady, Thomason; Longman, Barnett, O’Brien, Dobson, Rathbone; Smith, Broadhead