A HAAL City’s forward is
ERLING HAALAND produced a debut to forget for Manchester City as Liverpool claimed the new season’s first piece of silverware in dramatic fashion.
Few appearances on English soil have been more eagerly anticipated than that of City’s new £65million hitman.
But the expected fireworks from Haaland did not materialise in this Community Shield classic as he fired a bunch a blanks on a tricky evening.
Instead, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-half thunderbolt lit up the King Power Stadium – before Mo Salah’s 82nd-minute penalty and new boy Darwin Nunez handed Jurgen Klopp this trophy for the first time in his glittering Anfield reign.
The Reds needed that Salah strike, too, after a lesser-known City debutant had levelled 10 minutes earlier. Julian Alvarez’s £14million arrival
by HARRY PRATT
from River Plate went under the radar amid Haaland’s capture but he set the record straight here with his cameo upstaging the Norwegian’s display.
What an evening’s entertainment the nation was treated to by the best two teams in the land – just 63 days after their sensational final-game scrap for Premier League glory in May. Both came from behind that day to win their respective fixtures, leaving City to retain the title by a single point.
At this stage in the football calendar there are too many unknowns for cast-iron predictions. Even more so this year…with a month of the window left.
But, safe to say, anyone finishing ahead of this pair next season will win the league. This showdown was all about the present – and setting a
marker down at the expense of the main rival. But while Klopp kept his powder dry, with Nunez (below) on the bench, Haaland was thrown straight into the mix by Pep Guardiola.
And it was a packed Liverpool end that was almost leaping with joy after only three minutes when Salah, in acres of space, fired the wrong side of Ederson’s near post.
City immediately went up the other end, where Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected strike had Adrian scrambling.
The lightning pace seemed to catch Haaland by surprise. He barely had a touch before Liverpool broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.
Guardiola’s frustration was evident – and justified – as
Roberto Firmino had too much time to pick out Salah. This time the Egyptian maestro went backwards to Alexander-Arnold. Wise move. The England star had time to take aim and curl in a beauty, helped by Nathan Ake’s attempted glancing clearance.
Conceding sparked City into belated life, particularly Haaland, who controlled with chest and forced a fine Adrian stop and then failed to connect properly with Bernardo Sliva’s return cross. The second half began in similar fashion, with Liverpool continuing to control proceedings with composed, sharp passing. After 58 minutes, Guardiola had seen enough. On came Phil Foden for ineffective Jack Grealish and Alvarez for De Bruyne. But even that switch was upstaged by Klopp choosing to unleash Nunez – to the delight of the Merseyside masses. And the ex-Benfica hitman’s first four touches nearly ended the contest as he was sent tumbling in by Ederson – only for an offside flag to deny an inevitable penalty.
Moments later, Nunez was through on goal but Ederson saved smartly to keep City in contention.
Yet just when Liverpool appeared to have it all wrapped up, Foden’s first-time effort was fumbled and Alvarez pounced to level – with VAR overturning the initial offside flag against the England man.
Suddenly, the video ref was all over the contest – as it intervened again to judge that City skipper Ruben Dias handled Nunez’s header.
As ever, Salah converted, before Nunez’s stooping header in stoppage time completed a truly perfect evening for Klopp’s stunners – and left Haaland with his head in his hands.