Manchester City beat Liverpool 5-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, Sept. 9. Here are all the highlights from the match.
Manchester City thrashed Liverpool 5-0 at the Etihad in Saturday’s early kickoff, making the most of a man advantage, scoring three goals after Sadio Mane’s first-half red card.
Pep Guardiola opted to start with a back three, with Danilo slotting in for the injured Vincent Kompany at center-back, but City took a cautious approach in the face of Liverpool’s in-form attack, and the lineup looked like a back five at times.
The Reds were dangerous early on thanks to the pace of Mane and Mohamed Salah, who looked to have the better of Nicolas Otamendi on the left of City’s back three, but it was City who took the lead in the 24th minute, capitalizing on a poor Jordan Henderson clearance.
David Silva picked up the ball in midfield, and played through Sergio Aguero, who rounded Simon Mignolet with ease before rolling the ball in the net.
The Citizens hadn’t dominated, but their cautious game plan was paying dividends. Things got better for them in the 38th minute, when Mane was sent off for kicking City keeper Ederson in the head when played through by Joel Matip.
Mane was perhaps a little unlucky — his boot was high, but he was clearly trying to make a play on the ball — but Jon Moss’ decision was correct. Mane was reckless if not malicious, and connected with Ederson’s head. The Brazilian keeper was replaced by Claudio Bravo after lengthy treatment on the pitch.
City made their advantage count in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, with Gabriel Jesus heading in from Kevin De Bruyne’s in-swinging cross, as the Reds struggled to recalibrate their defense.
Jurgen Klopp made changes at halftime, bringing on new signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Salah and sliding Emre Can into a deeper defensive role, but they did little to stem the tide of City’s attack.
Jesus scored City’s third shortly after the break, when Aguero exploited another vertical through ball from midfield, this one by Fernandinho, before laying it off to his Brazilian teammate to tap in, and Leroy Sane, on as a substitute, made it four in the 77th minute.
There was time for the young German to add a fifth in second-half stoppage time, curling a wonderful shot into the top corner. This was an excellent result for City, and an awful one for Liverpool, but it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from the performances, given the way the red card changed the game.
The Reds will now find out to what extent their summer acquisitions of Salah and Oxlade-Chamberlain will help them overcome the loss of Mane, without whom they struggled immensely last season. That will likely tell us more about Klopp’s side than their performance against City.
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Highlights
https://twitter.com/NextGameClub/status/906492230973751296
City move onto 10 points with the win, and into first place in the table, at least until Manchester United face Stoke later in the day. Liverpool stay on seven points, and fall to fifth place, pending the weekend’s other results.