Straight
A lack of attention when defending against a counterattack determined the draw between Manchester City and Liverpool in the great duel of English football. It was justified by Alexander-Arnold’s catch moving inside from his predictable position on the side. Perhaps Guardiola’s team contributed more to the victory than Klopp’s. They certainly felt they were dominating the game, despite the classic lack of control of this type of competition, but in the end a draw was signed which frustrated City just as they were about to equalize a record that dates back to 1882 . Since then there has not been a team in England that has won 24 consecutive victories at their stadium. Sunderland’s old record was within Manchester’s grasp. “We played a great game,” Guardiola affirmed his team at the end.
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Ederson Moraes, Aké, Rúben Dias, Walker, Bernardo Silva, Manuel Akanji, Rodrigo, Julián Álvarez, Foden, Erling Braut Haaland and Jeremy Doku
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Alisson, Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Curtis Jones (Ryan Gravenberch, min. 54), Alexis Mac Allister (Wataru Endo, min. 84), Dominik Szoboszlai (Gakpo, min. 72), Salah , Darwin Núñez (Harvey Elliot, Min. 84) and Diogo Jota (Luis Díaz, Min. 54)
Goals 1-0 min. 27: Erling Braut Haaland. 1-1 min 79: Trent Alexander-Arnold.
referee Chris Kavanagh
Yellow cards Darwin Núñez (Min. 74), Matip (Min. 85), Bernardo Silva (Min. 88) and Wataru Endo (Min. 93)
The Catalan coach once again faced Klopp, with whom he maintains a negative record in lively head-to-head duels. He had beaten the last two, but the German strategist had previously been victorious in twelve games. Pep stays at eleven. The sixth tie took place this Saturday. City must have won because they were superior, had control of the ball longer (61%), put together more passes, scored twice as often as their rivals (16-8) and gave them little chance to do them any harm. But Liverpool reaped rewards from the value of suffering and the merit of daring. He gritted his teeth when the champion, who had Maestro Bernardo Silva at the helm, the undisputed football leader of the team, demanded of him.
The Portuguese are the masterminds of a team trained to attract rivals and exploit space. The essence of Liverpool is to chase the ball, they are not afraid of torturous games in the open field and there a fencing was proposed where City felt comfortable to use their imitated automatisms. Salah and Núñez initially frightened him as the Uruguayan striker was able to finish better. But the goal first came in the red zone, where Allison caused a few fires with his ball handling. The second of these ended at the feet of Aké, who played brilliantly with and without the ball throughout the game, while star newcomer Gvardiol watched him from the bench. The Dutch defender performed a slalom with the ball to find Haaland between the centre-backs, giving the Norwegian striker a decisive advantage to further increase his numbers: a tepid start to the season has seen him score 18 goals in all competitions 19 games and has already done so, scoring 50 goals in just 48 games in the Premier League. Andy Cole needed 65, Shearer managed with 66, Van Nistelrooy needed 68 and Salah or Fernando Torres 72.
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Haaland once again acted as a colossus and City got even more involved in a game that was turned on its head. Allison stretched just before half-time to prevent Foden from extending the home team’s lead. At the end of the game, Klopp summed up Liverpool’s situation at the time: “In the dressing room I said to the boys: Imagine how we would do if we played well.”
But Liverpool returned from the break unable to enforce their orders and were busy working on defensive aids, such as those with which they tried to stop the unstoppable Doku in one-on-one situations. Liverpool couldn’t even breathe with the arrival of Luis Díaz, who had just returned from a game in the Colombian team and a few hard days due to the kidnapping of his father, who was present in the stands. Julián Alvarez had the verdict. A goal by Ruben Dias was disallowed due to an earlier foul by Akanji on the Reds goalkeeper. After Doku’s umpteenth pass, Allison himself fired off a shot from Haaland, who finished the game with eleven dribbles completed and four chances to score.
City won, but Liverpool hit them on the counterattack of this move. Few gallop like Alexandre-Arnold, who called them the good guys and put his finger to his mouth in celebration to silence the Etihad Stadium. “He was the one who made the difference,” summarized Klopp. The local reaction was violent but also hasty. Guardiola once again decided not to make any changes. He doesn’t have many options on the bench either: De Bruyne, Nunes, Kovacic and Grealish watched the game from the stands.
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