Bradford City get their dream draw

Bradford, currently plying their trade in League One, will welcome Pep Guardiola's side to West Yorkshire in what is now the standout fixture of the round. It's the kind of pairing that makes the Carabao Cup worth the extra fixture congestion complaints: a club three divisions below the Premier League getting a shot at one of its superpowers, on their own turf, in a one-off knockout game.

Elsewhere in the draw, Liverpool have been paired with Bournemouth. Arne Slot's side will fancy their chances of a routine passage into the semi-finals against Andoni Iraola's Cherries at Anfield, though this Premier League season has shown nothing comes easy, even against sides from the division below.

The Bradford factor

For Bradford, this is about as big as domestic cup football gets without a trip to Wembley attached. League One sides getting a home draw against a Premier League champion-calibre club doesn't happen often, and when it does, it tends to produce the stories the competition needs to justify its own existence. Valley Parade will be bouncing long before kick-off.

Fleetwood also learned they'll host Premier League opposition, though the specific name of that opponent wasn't confirmed in the draw details available. Whoever it is, it adds a second potential upset storyline to a quarter-final round that already has its headline act sorted.

Why it matters

The Carabao Cup has long leaned on these mismatches for its appeal, and a Bradford City tie against Manchester City does more for the competition's profile than another all-Premier League quarter-final ever could. Guardiola's side will be overwhelming favourites, and nobody at Valley Parade will pretend otherwise. But knockout football only needs one afternoon to go wrong for the giant, and Bradford now get that afternoon on home soil.