THUNDER KLOPP
City threatened a perfect storm of goals, but Liverpool were the ones who struck the KO blows
WE NEVER thought they would be able to trump last week’s game. But the sequel was even better.
It was breathless and brilliant in equal measure as Manchester City gave everything - and somehow Liverpool triumphed after an incredible white-knuckle ride.
Typically it was Mohamed Salah with his 39th goal of the season which proved decisive at a time when Liverpool were on the canvas never mind the ropes. Roberto Firmino got a second late on but the tie was already Liverpool’s by then.
Salah’s goal was magical, brilliantly executed, what he has been doing all season and, at this rate, he could carry them to Champions League glory in Kiev next month.
But that only tells half the story about a game full of controversy, incident and drama with Pep Guardiola sent to the stands in fury after seeing City robbed of a perfectly good goal which really would have put Liverpool on the rack. Little wonder that he lost the plot because it was a bad decision and his City players gave everything, they deserved more and yet ultimately could not match Liverpool’s brilliance at Anfield six days earlier.
In the space of a week, City’s magnificent season has taken a terrible turn as they blew winning the title in the Manchester derby on Saturday and are now out of the Champions League.
Maybe, just maybe, it was Liverpool’s history, their European pedigree which ultimately carried them through because this was as tough as it could get. And now no-one will fancy getting them in Friday’s semi final draw.
City threw the kitchen sink at Liverpool in the first half.
They hit the post, laid siege to the visitors’ penalty box and it must have been pure torture for Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp on the touchline.
City made a start every bit as fast as Liverpool at Anfield last week. Guardiola’s gamble of playing three at the back looked risky but it quickly reaped rewards because their high-octane football left Klopp’s men unsure whether to stick or twist.
If anyone had any doubts as to whether City believed they could do it, they disappeared within two minutes.
Virgil van Dijk screamed foul as Raheem Sterling challenged him after the ball had gone – giant defender against pintsized winger seemed a mismatch – and suddenly David Silva and Fernandinho combined brilliantly to launch
a counter-attack. Sterling squared it to Gabriel Jesus and the Brazil striker slotted the ball into the bottom corner with a brilliantly clinical finish.
Suddenly the roof came off the Etihad. City had lit the blue touch paper as Guardiola got his dream start.
From then on, City’s pressure was relentless and Leroy Sane, Sterling and Jesus went close.
Bernardo Silva crashed a shot against the post and then City were robbed of a perfectly good second goal after 42 minutes. Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz and his linesman ruled Sane’s effort offside when Liverpool’s James Milner got a vital touch.
Lahoz has history with City, he has refereed two Blues’ games before, giving three penalties, and that was more than enough for Guardiola, whose protestations as the teams left the pitch at half-time saw him sent to the stands for the second half.
Guardiola’s absence from the touchline was crucial. City lost hope and direction. And when Salah scored in the 56th minute, it was all over. Sadio Mane raced into the box, went round Ederson, and with the ball running loose, Salah slotted home an ice-cool finish.
Guardiola put his head in his hands in the stands, the energy drained out of the stadium and Liverpool were gifted a second after 77 minutes.
Nicolas Otamendi’s sloppy pass let in Firmino who raced through and fired past Ederson (right) as the Liverpool fans behind that goal celebrated wildly as they dreamed of a sixth European Cup.