City beaten at home by league leaders Liverpool

Manchester City F.C.

·23 février 2025

City beaten at home by league leaders Liverpool

City missed the chance to move up to third in the Premier League after losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool.

First-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominkik Szoboszlai saw the visitors pick up three points to extend their advantage of the top of the table.

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Omar Marmoush had the ball in the back of the net for the Blues but his goal was ruled out for offside.

What happened

For the past decade, clashes between City and Liverpool have been arguably the biggest games of the Premier League season.

With former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp saying “Auf Wiedersehen” to the fixture after a legendary tussle with Pep Guardiola, Arne Slot brought his side to the Etihad for the first time having not lost in the Premier League away from home during his tenure so far.

Arsenal's defeat at home 24 hours earlier meant Liverpool played with more freedom and it was a typically high octane start.

City put the visitors under pressure early on with Jeremy Doku gliding past Trent Alexander-Arnold on numerous occasions with ease but we failed to troubled the away goal.

And Liverpool were ahead in the 14th minute with the first shot of the game on target. A well-worked corner routine saw the ball pulled back to Salah whose hit deflected off Nathan Ake and over Ederson’s dive.

City, again without Erling Haaland, continued to control the game with Slot’s side using the speed of Salah and Luis Diaz on the break to cause us problems.

In the battle of the Egyptian superstars, Salah had made the early impact while Omar Marmoush smashed a 20-yard strike that was comfortably saved by Alisson.

Our number seven then thought he had equalised on the half hour to round off a smart involving Rico Lewis and Savinho, but the assistant referee’s flag went up shortly after the ball rebounded off the inside of the post and over the line.

And from being close to going level, Liverpool doubled their advantage before half-time from another quick counter-attack that saw Szoboszlai fire a low shot into the bottom corner.

Liverpool celebrated a third goal shortly before the hour when Curtis Jones tapped in Szoboszlai's pass but the Hungarian was offside in the build-up after being check by VAR.

And it almost produced a turnaround with Marmoush drilling a shot that was pushed wide Alisson.

City kept pushing for a way back into the game with Savinho darting into the box on a thrilling run while Doku shot straight at Alisson from a good position.

But despite the constant pressure, Liverpool maintained their threat on the counter-attack and Abdukodir Khusaov made a superb block as Szoboszlai threatend to score a third.

And there was a bizarre moment late on when Kostas Tsimikas' volleyed towards his own goal. With Allison about to head it clear, an awkward gust meant he made a late decision to pluck the ball out of the air with the referee deeming it not to be a backpass.

TEAMS

City: Ederson, Lewis, Khusanov, Ake (Dias 78), Gvardiol, Nico (Kovacic 78), De Bruyne (McAtee 66), Savinho, Foden, Doku, Marmoush (Gundogan 78)

Subs not used: Ortega Moreno, Grealish, Bernardo, Reis, Nunes

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Quansah 91+2), Konate, van Dijk, Robertson (Tsimikas 74), Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones (Endo 74), Szoboszlai, Salah (Elliott 91+2), Diaz (Gakpo 79)

Subs not used: Kelleher, Nunez, Chiesa, Jota

WING MAN

When Alexander-Arnold closes his eyes tonight, he might see Doku’s dancing feet after a mesmerising 90 minutes.

In the first half alone, the City winger dribbled past him eight times and was a constant menace on our left flank.

Liverpool regularly flooded the box when City got the ball out wide with Savinho also looking menacing on the right.

Picking a way past the giants of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk was trickier, particularly without the physicality of Erling Haaland to match them.

Still it was an encouraging return for the Belgium in his first start for over a month.