Manchester City 3-2 Liverpool analysis and highlights
ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — Manchester City booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup as they beat Liverpool 3-2 in a thrilling contest at Etihad Stadium.
In a breathless return to action after the 2022 World Cup break, City took the lead on two occasions through Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez only to give it up to Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah strikes.
FIRST HALF
SECOND HALF
However, it proved third time lucky for Pep Guardiola’s men when Nathan Ake nodded in at the back post to carve out an advantage that the hosts ultimately held onto.
That meant City marched into the last eight while Liverpool were left to take the positives from a performance they will hope to use as the basis for improvement in the second part of their campaign.
Manchester City vs. Liverpool result
| 1H | 2H | Final | |
| Man City | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Liverpool | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Goals:
- MCI — Haaland — 10th min
- LIV — Carvalho — 20th min
- MCI — Mahrez — 46th min
- LIV — Salah — 48th min
- MCI — Ake — 58th min
City’s turn for quadruple hunt
After the huge successes of recent years, Manchester City endured something of a disappointing 2021/22 season in only winning the Premier League.
And their pain was only made worse – perhaps until the final two weeks of the campaign, at least – by the fact that Liverpool put together a genuine run at all four trophies, ultimately ending up with two.
Fortunately, victory here ensured that the Reds won’t have any chance of repeating that feat, even should they mount a remarkable Premier League recovery.
Instead, it is City’s turn to try and put themselves in the quadruple hunt, starting by claiming the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool’s big test comes at Aston Villa
With so many changes to both teams and the unusual mid-season break making rhythm difficult to find, it was no surprise to see an end-to-end contest full of chances.
However, the problem for Liverpool will be to decipher whether those mitigating circumstances are to blame or if this is actually a continuation of their patchy early season form.
Jurgen Klopp’s side desperately need to find more control in games if they are to show improvement from here on in, and the truest test of whether they have worked out how to do that in the last few weeks will come at Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
Unpredictable Nunez endures rough night
When Darwin Nunez netted twice in Liverpool’s final mid-season friendly against AC Milan, it seemed all questions regarding a potential World Cup hangover had been answered.
But the Uruguayan was back to his worst in this one, missing enough chances to secure the visitors a win in normal time.
Klopp must hope that is little more than the sort of finishing blip that saw Haaland somehow draw a blank from a similar glut of opportunities in the Community Shield earlier this season.
With Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota out for some time yet, Liverpool’s big-money summer signing needs to find his shooting boots ASAP.