THE VERDICT: CITY 1 LIVERPOOL 2
PEP Guardiola had spoken of his team as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘exceptional’ in the build-up to this game.
And, while anyone strolling into this match to see the Blues for the first time might wonder what on earth all the fuss was about, the manager has a point.
City have already achieved so much this season and have already produced a brand of football unparalleled.
And while Guardiola may have set himself up for a fall by lauding his team to high heaven, some of his other words were more pertinent.
He spoke of City winning the Champions League – if not this year, then another in the near future.
They played well here certainly in the first half and after Gabriel Jesus had slotted them in front, an amazing comeback from the 3-0 Anfield defeat looked to be on.
When Liverpool hit back with two second-half goals, the possibilities drained away, and City will have to be content with just the two trophies this season.
But for youngsters Leroy Sane – who chased the cause all night – Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte, this was a starting Jesus (2) Salah (56), Firmino (77) 68% 32% 20 5 9 2 Ederson, Bernardo AlexanderArnold, van Dijk, Firmino, Mane Antonio Mateu Lahoz 53,461 point. Time is running out for David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho, but the next generation of Blues reaped some worthy – and painful – lessons from these two quarter-final legs.
City had the perfect start, backed by a crowd which had levels of optimism never previously seen among Blues fans.
City set a high tempo from the kick-off – it was noticeable that even the ballboys seemed to have been instructed to move quickly and get the ball back in play whenever the Blues had a throw-in.
And it was quickness of mind rather than legs which brought the early goal everyone in blue craved.
Liverpool were still contesting a freekick when City took it quickly and Fernandinho slid a trademark pass down the side of the disorganised visitors’ defence.
Raheem Sterling was onto it in a flash, and with a calm presence of mind that still deserts him at times – as it did against United – he picked out Jesus up in support.
The Brazilian slotted it neatly into the corner, the City fans went wild and the belief within the stadium ratcheted up a couple of levels.
Scoring so early meant the Blues did not need to be so frantic, and with the referee throwing yellow cards around like confetti, it was a case of watching their tackles and biding their time.
Bernardo Silva was quite brilliant, giving Liverpool all kinds of difficulties down their left, and re-posing the question of why he did not start at Anfield.
He carved inside from his wide right position and lashed a shot against the far post, Liverpool lucky to see it rebound to one of their players rather than a marauding Blue.
The Davd Silva-Leroy Sane combo which has been a feature of this season and which was effectively stifled in the first leg, looked a fraction sharper this time.
And the German was robbed of