Rayan Cherki fizzed and flickered but Brighton assumed control of the first half and were rewarded with the first goal, even if Malick Yalcouye looked like he could have been offside when he converted from close range. With no VAR, the forward was deemed on and City moans were ignored.

Mateo Kovacic levelled the game before half-time but the visitors went ahead just after the break when the Croatian midfielder could not keep up with Georgino Rutter, who finished coolly from Jaouen Hadjam's cut back.

City had left Erling Haaland, Donnarumma, Elliot Anderson, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol out of the squad completely. That's three of the four captains as well as five of the best players, with Marc Guehi leading the side in their absence.

Enzo Fernandez and Jeremy Doku were named as substitutes, with 17-year-old academy midfielder Floyd Samba starting the game up front and replaced at half-time by 18-year-old academy winger Ryan McAidoo. These are decisions that showed Maresca was nowhere near as serious about winning this match as he could have been, so the City manager could have few complaints about the manner of his side's performance in the first hour.

He cut a frustrated figure in the second half, shouting towards his bench at one point as his players tried and failed to get level again. And yet, City were never out of the game and bringing Doku on in the second half helped to shift momentum back to Blue.

There were still 20 minutes to go when Foden drove at the defence and won a free-kick in dangerous territory. Up stepped Cherki, who smacked it straight at his own defender Vitor Reis and then past a despairing Jason Steele to turn the game again.

Brighton were still pushing, and still trying the long-distance efforts that worked so spectacularly for Diego Gomez against Crystal Palace recently, but it was City that had the initiative for the final spell of the game as the clock ticked towards penalties. The game was there to be won for anybody who wanted to announce themselves as the team to beat in this competition.

That turned out to be City, despite Maresca giving so many stars the night off. Doku's presence helped but it was Cherki and Foden who really drove City in those final minutes and in the shootout. Cherki got the crowd going before it had started and Foden then smashed in the opener confidently.

After Rulli had saved one to cancel out Mateo Kovacic's miss, Cherki scored City's fifth before Rulli saved again to seal the match. As many players ran to the goalkeeper to celebrate, Foden headed straight for Maresca.

Despite leaving so many leaders out of his team, Maresca is discovering more City stars he can rely on.