Floyd Samba’s debut double lifts Manchester City to Carabao Cup win over Norwich

Floyd Samba lit up this tie up with a debut that will have the 17-year-old grinning for a while as it featured a superb goal in each half that ensured Manchester City advanced to face Brighton in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.

Samba has an older brother by a year, Tyrone, who is also in the academy, their father being Christopher, the former Blackburn and Queens Park Rangers defender.

Samba showed all of his slick forward game that brings speed, awareness, athleticism, and a poacher’s eye for goal.

For Enzo Maresca, this sixth successive win maintains a 100% record for his nascent City project, barring the Community Shield, and points to how the manager is shrugging off any doubts about succeeding Pep Guardiola.

City host Sunderland here on Sunday. Defeat Régis Le Bris’s side and Maresca will enjoy his three-week international break.

You would not wager against them doing so – City are improving with each outing.

Many teams are blown away by City at the Etihad so for the 14th-placed Championship side to initially tap the ball about, have Darlin Yongwa cruising down the left while causing Allan, on debut, to fling himself to ground to block the left-back’s cross was positive.

So, too, limiting City to an aimless Rico Lewis shot and a buccaneering Mateo Kovacic run that foundered in Norwich’s area.