Man City march on in League Cup, Man United also through

Manchester: In this congested season like no other, coaches are typically using the English League Cup to rest and rotate key players.

Not Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager fielded all of his top available stars against Burnley on Wednesday in a bid to stay on course for a fourth straight title in the competition, and it paid off.

Raheem Sterling scored twice, offseason signing Ferran Torres added the third, and Kevin De Bruyne ran the game in City's 3-0 win in a one-sided last-16 match.

Manchester United, Everton and Newcastle also advanced to the quarterfinals, joining Tottenham after its penalty-shootout win over Chelsea on Tuesday.

Determined to win any trophy going, Guardiola might have also wanted City to rediscover some rhythm after a wild 5-2 loss to Leicester in the Premier League on Sunday one of his heaviest defeats as a manager.

His team did just that, with Sterling looking more at home as a makeshift central striker in the absence of the injured Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus than he did against Leicester.

The England international could have had two or three goals before opening the scoring in the 35th minute by lashing in a left-footed finish from Benjamin Mendy's

cross.

Torres squared the ball across the face of goal to set up Sterling for a simple second goal in the 49th, and the roles were reversed in the 65th as Torres ran through to curl home a finish with aplomb for his first goal since joining from Valencia in August.

"It was for the rhythm, and because these players wanted to play," Guardiola said of his strong team selection.

"This competition is special to us and there is just two games this one and Leeds (in the league) on Saturday before the international break. After our result (on Sunday), it was important today." AGENCIES