On a night when Erling Haaland reacquainted us with his prodigious goalscoring feats, it was left to a defender, City’s Nathan Ake, to settle the latest round in this increasingly fractious heavyweight rivalry.
The Dutch defender rose unmarked to head in a Kevin De Bruyne cross from a well-worked short corner after 58 minutes, after EFL Cup holders Liverpool had equalized twice in their bid to reach this season’s quarter-finals.
The two great rivals have accounted for the last five winners of the competition – although City recorded four of those successes before Liverpool ended that run by winning last season’s Final against Chelsea.
And, as the pair emerged from the cocoon of six weeks of World Cup football, all eyes were on Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.
After all, the relationship between the two has become increasingly fraught in recent years, as has the one between the two clubs, to the extent that meetings were held between the rivals ahead of the tie in an attempt to broker “peace.” Still, when football took over, it didn’t take long for Haaland to pick up where he left off in November.
Haaland’s first involvement, after all of 18 seconds, had suggested that perhaps the World Cup break, and 40 days without a game, had acted like kryptonite, dulling the powers of the Premier League’s new goalscoring superman.
He chased through an Ilkay Gundogan pass, and with only Caoimhin Kelleher to beat, badly lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper and well wide from 25 yards.
But, if that early miss gave rivals hope, it took the City number nine all of 10 more minutes to rid himself of that “rustiness” and shoot City in front with his 24th goal of what has already been an extraordinary campaign.
Cole Palmer and Kevin De Bruyne linked well, spurred on by Gundogan, on the left and the Belgian crossed dangerously into the Liverpool area.
De Bruyne’s ball found Haaland, as he has done so often this season, who reacted like lightning, while defender Joe Gomez did the exact opposite, and poked the ball home from 10 yards.
It was the culmination of a bright start by City although Liverpool showed their mettle in weathering that early pressure and equalizing just nine minutes later.
Joel Matip drove forward deep into City territory and found James Milner, in a surprising amount of space, in the home area. The veteran picked out Fabio Carvalho, similarly in an unexpected area devoid of defenders, and his finish from 12 yards gave Stefan Ortega no chance.
Those were the opening salvos in an absorbing clash, with Liverpool threatening on the break while City enjoyed the better chances – twice inside 60 seconds late in the first half, Kelleher made good stops from Gundogan and an Ake header, both chances carved out by De Bruyne.
Perhaps that pattern reflected the different respective approaches taken by the two coaches.
Guardiola had muttered before the World Cup break that he might have to field a bunch of youngsters and coaching staff to fulfill this fixture although, as events in Qatar transpired, he wasted no time in integrating many of his stars into the first team.
Six of City’s starters – Ake, Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, De Bruyne and Manuel Akanji – had seen significant duty in the tournament with a further half dozen, including four England players, named to the City bench.
Liverpool were a little more cautious in their approach with Darwin Nunez the only player in their starting XI to have appeared in Qatar, with a further two World Cup men among the subs.
Nunez, in fact, looked the sharpest player in a red shirt, hitting the post in the first half from an offside position and then sending a low shot skidding just wide moments before the interval.
After the break, the tie even managed to step up a gear with both teams scoring within three minutes of the restart.
After only 66 seconds, Rodri’s cross-field pass was collected by Riyad Mahrez who cut inside Andrew Robertson far too easily before beating Kelleher with an emphatic finish.
But it was a lead that the home side held for barely a minute before substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sent Nunez sprinting away from Aymneric Laporte and crossing for Salah to convert past an out of position Stefan Ortega.
Guardiola, almost as if to show off his strength in depth, was able to bring on England trio Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and John Stones, as well as he could, given how Liverpool refused to give up their trophy without a fight.
Naby Keita played the lively Nunez clean through on 71 minutes only for the Uruguay star to roll his effort agonizing inches wide of City’s left-hand post.
There was time for the combustible Rodri and Fabinbho to receive yellow cards for squaring up in a confrontation that briefly involved other players and threatened to turn ugly although it would not have been a “proper” City-Liverpool contest without at least one such flashpoint.
Ortega 5; Lewis 7, Akanji 6 (Stones 60, 6), Laporte 5, Ake 7; De Bruyne 9, Rodri 6, Gundogan 7 (Silva 87); Mahrez 6, Haaland 7 (Foden 72, 6), Palmer 7 (Grealish 72, 5). Substitutes (not used) Walker, Cancelo, S Gomez, Carson, Alex Robertson.
: Kelleher 6; Milner 6 (Phillips 38, 6), Matip 7, J Gomez 5, Andrew Robertson 5; Thiago 6 (Keita 69, 5), Bajcetic 6 (Fabinho 45, 6), Elliott 6 (Henderson 57, 6); Salah 7, Nunez 8, Carvalho 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 45, 6). Substitutes (not used) Keita, Adrian, Tsimikas, Ramsay, Doak.
: D Coote 7 Ends
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