Man City knocks Liverpool out of the English League Cup
In a recent promotional video, Haaland admitted he was fed up with practicing vegetarianism for more than a month when club football stopped, making way for the 2022 World Cup. The Norwegian striker said he misses and can't wait to play again. again with teammates like De Bruyne, Gundogan, Phil Foden, Rodri, Cancelo... - Man City members went to Qatar to serve the national team.
That desire to play was clearly demonstrated by Haaland at the Etihad yesterday, when he entered the game with more enthusiasm than usual. That excitement made the 22-year-old striker spoiled when Ilkay Gundogan created a chance in the first minute, with a pass for Haaland to face Caoimhin Kelleher. But the Man City striker's tire sent the ball too high, above both the opponent's goalkeeper and the Liverpool goal.
It was not until the second chance that Haaland released his desire to score goals. From De Bruyne's perfect left-hand ball, Man City's 9th striker came out and finished close to the door to open the scoring for the home team.
On the Etihad Stadium yesterday, coach Pep Guardiola registered up to 12 of the 16 Man City members to attend the 2022 World Cup, and gave 6 of them the main kick, including Akanji, Laporte, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan. On the Liverpool side, only three people who went to Qatar were registered, including Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Darwin Nunez, in which Nunez was the only one to start.
Nunez also had a good chance early in the game, but handled it slowly so Laporte could neutralize it. However, Liverpool, with stronger legs, quickly equalized in the 20th minute, when Milner stretched from the right to let Fabio Carvalho comfortably score.
The same chase scenario reappeared, but more intensely, in just the first 3 minutes of the second half. Man City took the lead again in the 47th minute. Rodri flicked the ball on the left for Ryad Mahrez to control the technique, eliminated Andy Robertson and then beautifully cut Kelleher down. Just a minute later, Liverpool equalized again, when Mo Salah hit an empty goal from Nunez's assist after a counter-attack.
In the 58th minute, Man City took the lead for the third time, when De Bruyne combined a corner with Cole Palmer and then hung the ball from the left for midfielder Nathan Ake to hit the ground and beat Kellerher. However, this time, coach Guardiola's team did not let the opponent level the gap anymore.
From the 61st minute onwards, Guardiola in turn launched four more players who had just returned from the World Cup, respectively John Stones, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. They helped Man City control the game better and keep the score advantage until the end of time, and won tickets to the quarter-finals against Southampton on January 10, and turned Liverpool into a former champion in the English League Cup.
The victory over Liverpool is a good start for Man City to have more excitement and confidence to enter the next series of four difficult matches, in turn against Leeds (December 29), Everton (December 31), Chelsea (December 6). 1) in the English Premier League and then against Chelsea in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on January 8.
Subs not used: Carson, Walker, Cancelo, Gomez, Robertson
Subs not used: Adrian, Tsimikas, Ramsay, Doak
