RED AND BURIED
Salah does it again as Liverpool hold nerve
MOHAMED SALAH was coolness personified as he took the heat right out of the Etihad.
Gabriel Jesus gave Pep Guardiola’s men the ideal start, bagging an opener with less than two minutes gone.
City were suddenly right back in the tie and dominated the first half.
But 11 minutes after the break super Salah equalised with his 39th goal of the season.
It was his eighth strike in the Champions League this campaign as he kept up his remarkable run.
Roberto Firmino added a second to make it a thoroughly miserable night for Pep Guardiola’s men
Having lost 3-0 at Anfield a week ago, gungho City wanted to be quick off the mark and they certainly were.
Passion
Even before their goal, a sign of the importance and passion flowing in this semi-final second leg came with seconds on the clock.
Sadio Mane, sent off in Liverpool’s 5-0 defeat in the league at the Etihad, went in late on Kevin De Bruyne and caught him on the foot but escaped a caution.
But the home side were ahead after one minute and 56 seconds.
Raheem Sterling, yes Sterling, outmuscled Virgil van Dijk who could only scoop a pass to Bernardo Silva. He cut it out, laying the ball at the feet of Fernandinho. He promptly played in Sterling who squared it behind Dejan Lovren for Jesus to stroke in with his right foot at the near post.
Van Dijk and his team-mates were furious at referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for not awarding a foul, with plenty of justification.
In the 14th minute, the fired-up Mane slid in and caught Nicolas Otamendi in the groin and was lucky to escape with a yellow.
Ederson was also booked for shoving Mane several time as he raged over the challenge.
Andrew Robertson looked to have pushed Sterling in the box but got away with it.
And he went unpunished seconds later for putting his hands on the same player in the penalty area.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a tame shot on target, Liverpool’s first, in the 41st minute.
Seconds after that Bernardo Silva drove a left-foot shot onto the outside of Loris Karius’ right post, only after it deflected off Lovren. City should have been further ahead in the 43rd minute. Karius’ punch hit James
Milner and bounced back towards goal and Leroy Sane turned the ball in.
He was given offside with the officials seemingly unaware that the ball had struck Milner, and not Jesus alongside him.
City had an escape just after that, though, when Salah picked out Oxlade-Chamberlain’s run.
Angered
He managed to round City keeper Ederson, but then blazed wildly over as he was losing his balance.
Guardiola ushered his men off for fear they would have a go at the Spanish referee.
The ref had angered him with his performance against Monaco last season, when he sent off Sergio Aguero for diving, rather than give a penalty.
But Guardiola had obviously made his own feelings known in spades, for he was sent to the stands for the second half.
Guardiola took his place as a spectator for the second half to see if his men could complete a miracle comeback without his constant urging and often berating.
But he could only look on in the 56th minute as Salah sent Mane scurrying into the box. Mane managed to keep powering forward, despite the attention of Fernandinho.
Ederson dived in to scoop the ball off his foot but it broke to Salah who calmly chipped it in from a tight angle, avoiding Otamendi on the line.
Firmino added the gloss in the 77th minute, dispossessing Otamendi out on the Liverpool right, striding forward and rolling the ball past Ederson and in off the post. MAN CITY (3-4-3): Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte; B Silva (Gundogan 74), Fernandinho, De Bruyne, D Silva (Aguero 66); Sterling, Sane, Jesus. Subs: Bravo, Kompany, Delph, Zinchenko, Foden. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Karius; Alexander-Arnold (Clyne 81), Van Dijk, Lovren, Robertson; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum, Milner; Salah, Mane, Firmino (Klavan 81). Subs: Mignolet, Moreno, Ings, Solanke, Woodburn. Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain).