Manchester City progress to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup following an entertaining 3-2 victory over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
It was an electric start from both teams as they returned to action after the FIFA World Cup. It didn’t take for Erling Haaland to hit the back of the net as ten minutes in, he poked home from Kevin De Bruyne’s inch-perfect cross to give City an early lead. Despite the hosts being the dominant side, Liverpool were a threat on the attack and they equalised ten minutes after City’s first goal. James Milner set-up Fábio Carvalho who stoked the ball into the back of the net.
Two minutes into the second half and Pep Guardiola’s side had regained their advantage when Riyad Mahrez cut inside and calmly slotted past Caoimhin Kelleher. They didn’t have their lead for long though as a minute later, Darwin Núñez took on Aymeric Laporte and the Liverpool forward passed across the box to Mo Salah to put Liverpool back on level terms. City were still on top and they got their third as De Bruyne’s cross fell Nathan Aké at the back post who head home. Liverpool had a few chances to send the game to a penalty shootout but City progress to face Southampton in the next round.
Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji (Stones 61′), Laporte, Aké, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gündogan (Bernardo Silva 88′), Mahrez, Haaland (Foden 73′), Palmer (Grealish 73′)
Unused substitutes: Walker, Cancelo, Gómez, Carson, Robertson
Liverpool: Kelleher, Milner (Phillips 38′), Gomez, Matip, Robertson, Bajcetic (Fabinho 45′), Thiago (Keita 70′), Elliott (Henderson 57′), Carvalho (Oxlade-Chamberlain 45′), Salah, Núñez
Unused substitutes: Adrian, Tsimikas, Ramsay, Doak
Referee: David Coote
Assistant referees: Nick Hopton & Timothy Wood
Fourth official: Paul Tierney
Star men: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) & Mo Salah (Liverpool)
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