Manchester City were beaten by old demons at Anfield as Mohamed Salah’s goal topped a counter-attacking masterclass to win it for Liverpool.
The visitors thought they had finally taken the lead early in the second-half when Phil Foden rattled the ball home, only for VAR to overturn the goal for a foul by Erling Haaland in the build-up.
While City created the better chances and will feel they should have won the match, the under-the-cosh home team looked dangerous on the counter and got themselves in front late on with a Mohamed Salah goal.
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It was arguably Haaland who came closest to scoring for City, but both goalkeepers proved equal to everything thrown at them until Salah broke the deadlock late in the second half.
Here’s how we rated the players…
Ederson - 7 (Man of the Match)
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City’s much-maligned keeper made some very important saves that will doubtless be forgotten next time he concedes a goal. Without the Brazilian, it would’ve been Liverpool’s game long before the Salah goal.
Joao Cancelo - 3.5
I can’t think of a better microcosm for Joao Cancelo than running the show with a goal and assist vs Southampton before being demolished by Salah to gift Liverpool a win the very next weekend. We have to stop giving him defensive responsibility like that.
Manuel Akanji - 6
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I’m not sure anyone on earth thought Manuel Akanji would be a crucial part of City’s starting XI back in May but here we are. Did well again today in tough circumstances.
Ruben Dias - 5
Felt like most of City’s defensive issues today were caused by Salah’s exploitation of City’s high line and, while it probably wasn’t vintage Dias, none of our defenders are going to be perfect in a game like this one.
Nathan Aké - 5
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Primarily tasked with looking after Harvey Elliott, who had a quiet game. Not to blame for the lack of incisiveness at the other end of the pitch.
Rodri - 5
Did his job well enough, but he’s in that strange position where he can be blamed for neither the attack’s bluntness nor the defence’s ineptitude.
Ilkay Gundogan - 5
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Probably shouldn’t have started the game. Not that he was particularly bad, but it felt like we were a forward down for the majority of the match. Gundogan himself wasn’t at his best either, to be fair.
Bernardo Silva - 6
Really a bright spark for most of the game, but I’m not sure what he was thinking about with some of the arguing late on that wasted valuable time City needed to grab an equaliser.
Kevin De Bruyne - 5
Looked dangerous whenever he got on the ball, which wasn’t often enough.
Too many crosses were easily cut out by Liverpool players. A few wasted set-pieces summed up the afternoon for him.
Erling Haaland - 5
Had a few chances that he might think he should’ve taken, but it didn’t quite come off for him today. Fouled Fabinho in the build-up to Foden’s disallowed goal - needs to learn that that’ll only get goals ruled out.
Phil Foden - 5
Nowhere near the heights he’s hit for most of the season today but, again, our attack clearly suffered from the formation Pep went with. Would’ve liked to see him on the right with Grealish on the left.
Substitutes:
Julian Alvarez - N/A
Came on far too late. 89 minutes too late to be honest.
Topics: Liverpool, Manchester City, Premier League, Football
Nathan Allen