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Manchester City beat Liverpool in a dramatic Carabao Cup goal-fest.
Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-2 in a spectacular match at the Etihad on Thursday night to advance to the Carabao Cup quarterfinals.
All the high-calibre, high-pace, and high-drama that we have come to expect from these two teams were on display, but despite the close score, City was clearly the superior team.
Clearly putting his World Cup struggles with Belgium behind him, Kevin De Bruyne was at his brilliant best, creating chances on a platter for his teammates.
Despite being outplayed, Liverpool put up a fight and twice tied the score, first through Fabio Carvalho after Erling Haaland gave City the lead and again through Mohamed Salah after Riyad Mahrez had put the hosts ahead.
However, they could not bounce back for the third time and Nathan Ake’s header in 58 minutes, from a De Bruyne cross, proved to be the winner and take City into the last eight.
The Premier League champions had a strong start, and they took the lead after just 10 minutes when Haaland volleyed past Caoimhin Kelleher.
The Norwegian sensation made a deft finish, but the assist—which came from De Bruyne using his weaker left foot—was arguably more impressive.
After the World Cup break, City looked extremely sharp and were unquestionably the stronger team for the majority of the first half, but suddenly, 10 minutes after the opening goal, Liverpool tied the game.
Before the veteran squared to Fabio Carvalho, Joel Matip carried the ball out of defence and skillfully slipped James Milner into the penalty area.
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The teenager levelled the game by calmly brushing past Stefan Ortega with a first-time finish.
It was good stuff from the Reds but Pep Guardiola’s side went back to dominating and really should have been ahead before the break.
Ilkay Gundogan had two decent chances, the first a very good one and well saved by Kelleher, while Nathan Ake also had a great opportunity, getting on the end of an immense De Bruyne cross, this time from the right. However, his header was turned away by Kelleher.
James Milner had been replaced by Nat Phillips late in the first half, with Liverpool making two more substitutions at half-time as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fabinho entered the fray.
The start of the second period was chaos, with two goals in the first five minutes as City again went ahead and Liverpool again bounced straight back.
First Riyad Mahrez scored a trademark goal bringing down a floated pass from Rodri perfectly, onto his left foot before curling the ball past Kelleher into the far corner.
Amazingly, the advantage only lasted a few seconds as Darwin Nunez, who had displayed great speed down the left, broke in and found Salah with a cutback. Salah only needed to push the ball home as Ortega had turned to face the Uruguayan and left his goal unattended.
The better team, however, was City, and with De Bruyne looking unstoppable at his best, they were back in the lead before the hour mark.
Following a brief corner, the talented Belgian again found Ake with an inswinging cross from the left, but this time the Dutchman scored to make it 3-2 for the home team.
Liverpool were not out of it by any stretch and remained a threat, chiefly through Darwin Nunez but his finishing over the piece was pretty poor. He went through in the inside right channel just after the 70-minute mark and dragged his effort wide.
It had been a fairly good-natured affair until things spilt over 78 minutes in as City players fumed about a challenge Fabinho made on Rodri. The Spanish midfielder was angry himself, while Gundogan shoved the Brazilian to the floor, but the order was swiftly restored.
Despite their best efforts, Liverpool was unable to create another decent opportunity since City appeared to be the more threatening team, even if they didn’t need to score. City fought out the victory in an exciting match.