DESTROYER OF DREAMS
Salah cool in the cauldron with goal that ended City’s comeback hopes
The record books will show that this game slipped away from Manchester City in the 56th minute, when Mohamed Salah scored and left them needing a further four second-half goals.
In reality it was probably over some 26 minutes earlier in the evening, when referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, from Spain, informed Pep Guardiola he would spend the remainder of this quarter-final in the stand.
There is a reason an orchestra has a conductor. he does not play a solo, not even an instrument, but he shapes the performance of those who do. he sets the tempo, he harnesses the energy of the group. That is what Guardiola does for his players, on the touchline. In his absence throughout the second half, the technical area sat empty, as if nobody at the club dared take his place, assume his position or authority.
he didn’t even leave his yellow ribbon as a reminder of his presence. When the camera panned in on him in the plush blue seats, Guardiola looked forlorn, helpless, like Superman in the face of Kryptonite. When Liverpool scored the second, to win on the night too, he put his head in his hands.
This has been a good season, but a very bad seven days for Guardiola and City. he seems to have lost his way, his clarity of thought. It is not the worst run of his managerial career — he once lost four on the spin at Bayern Munich, incredibly — but it has removed his cloak of invincibility.
It is not just the three results, with eight goals conceded, but the manner of the defeats and the opposition. Rivals triumphant, leads lost, goals conceded in flurries, and now this — personal indiscipline at a crucial moment.
What was Guardiola thinking when he confronted Mateu Lahoz at the end of the first half? That the official was over-promoted and useless, no doubt — which he is. But that’s exactly the reason it was irresponsible to go near him. Mateu Lahoz looked all night as if he had a match-altering call in him, and he made it. having already disallowed a good Manchester City goal to deny them a 2-0 lead, he then banished Guardiola for complaining.
Maybe Guardiola needs to wise up. he is no longer at the helm of one of UeFA’s darlings, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, the elite of the elite. City are the club that challenged financial fair play, that pay £50m fines, that boo the Champions League anthem.
equally, one can only imagine the wider Spanish view of a high profile individual who wears his support for Catalonia’s self-determination as a badge of honour.
This is to take nothing away from Liverpool, who thoroughly deserved their emphatic victory over two legs. An aggregate score of 5-1 was every bit as masterful as it appears and, just as questions are being asked of Guardiola, so Jurgen Klopp deserves every ounce of praise thrown his way.
his team having been outplayed in the first half, he got them in and sent them out rebooted in the second — more ambitious, unafraid to gamble, and within 11 minutes their away goal had ended the tie as a contest. Most importantly, they were clinical in a way City were not; they took chances where their opponents squandered, just three shots on target in 180 minutes.
having crushed City’s spirit with the first goal, it was almost inevitable that they would go on to win the match. Georginio Wijnaldum started the move that led to Liverpool’s equaliser, finding Salah who freed Sadio Mane, staying upright when it would have been tempting to fall in the area under pressure from his City pursuers. ederson, in the City goal, looked to have mopped up the loose ball, then spilled it, allowing Salah to perform his trademark finish. Close range, no panic, lifting it into the net, coolness personified. It was already done, but Liverpool thrust a second stake through City’s heart to make sure. Nicolas Otamendi dawdled, Roberto Firmino — arguably Liverpool’s man of the match — caught him in possession on the left, strode on and finished smartly past ederson. The home fans began a steady trickle towards the exit, their hopes dashed once again.
For, previously, as magnificent as Liverpool had been in the first half last week, so City were in the opening 45 minutes here. The difference being that, while Liverpool got the goals and the advantage across the tie, City went in frustrated. Maybe that, too, was part of Guardiola’s misguided decision to confront Mateu Lahoz.
True, the official had hardly covered himself in glory in the first half. he had waved away two penalty shouts that could have gone City’s way, gave offside against a good goal and seemed very relaxed about the time Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was taking to bring the ball back into play.
That said, Liverpool claimed Virgil van Dijk was fouled for City’s first goal, and Mane had been booked for a tackle on Otamendi that looked horrendous in real time but, on closer inspection, turned out to be a case of the striker slipping on the wet surface and skidding into his opponent. It was sheer bad luck, not ill intent.
Just one minute and 57 seconds had passed when Manchester City scored. Van Dijk has been credited with stabilising Liverpool at the back, but he flapped here, losing out in a challenge to Raheem Sterling and debating the decision rather than moving on with the game. The ball was played back in to Sterling who broke through the gap vacated by Van Dijk and squared to Gabriel Jesus, who beat Karius.
Then, those controversial calls. Bernardo Silva had a shot on 30 minutes blocked by James Milner, who looked to have moved his body, including his arms, towards the ball. Mateu Lahoz was unmoved. Next up, a challenge by Andrew Robertson on Sterling that certainly looked like manhandling, even if the City man tumbled quite easily. Was it a penalty? Maybe. Seen them given? Definitely.
Finally, the goal, turned in by Sane after Karius had come for the ball and failed to collect. The scorer was flagged offside, which he would have been had the ball not been diverted into his path by Milner. It was this, in particular, that Guardiola seemed incensed about.
his mood would not have improved when Bernardo Silva hit a post. And it was all downhill from there.