Liverpool stun City in dazzling first half
● Visitors have no answers as Klopp’s men run amok in Champions League
Liverpool drew significant first blood in their all-english Champions League quarterfinal as Manchester City were blown away in 45 minutes in a raucous 3-0 Anfield defeat.
Jurgen Klopp’s side may not have delivered a fatal blow but first-half goals from Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-chamberlain and Sadio Mane provided a healthy advantage heading into next week’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
Concerns about windows being smashed on the Manchester City coach, with thousands of Liverpool fans lining thestreetsontheirapproachto the ground armed with smoke bombs and flares, were nothing compared to Pep Guardiola’s annoyance at the wheels coming off in the opening 45 minutes.
Liverpool, who beat City 4-3 in the league here, were ahead after 12 minutes when James Milner played a sumptuous ball down the touchline and even though there was a hint of offside as Salah broke on the halfway line City were powerless to prevent what happened next.
The Egypt international played in Roberto Firmino and although Ederson blocked his initial shot the loose ball fell to Salah who had the presence of mind to wait just long enough to see where the defenders were scrambling to before firing home his 38th goal of the season from close range.
Guardiola had deployed
0 Alex Oxlade-chamberlain celebrates his stunning goal which put Liverpool 2-0 ahead at Anfield. Salah’s rival for player of the year, Kevin De Bruyne, alongside holding midfielder Fernandinho in an attempt to control the game from deep.
The Belgium international barely had a touch of significance as Liverpool swarmed all over the centre of the pitch, winning every second ball with an energy and tenacity their visitors could not match.
Leroy Sane scuffed a shot wide when he had options either side of him but surprisingly that was City’s best chance of the half.
Klopp’s side were far more clinical and when Firmino appeared to be fouled by Vincent Kompany, referee Felix Brych played on and Milner swept ball inside to Oxladechamberlain.
Advancing a few steps the midfielder repeated his feat of January against City, albeit with a much fiercer effort from 20 yards which Ederson barely saw never mind getting near.
City were dominated like never before this season – not even in their previous defeat here – and their creative duo of De Bruyne and David Silva never had any time on the ball.
Their desperation was evident towards the end of the half as long, high balls were pumped into the penalty area without reward.
By then they were 3-0 down after Mane out-jumped men much bigger than him to head in Salah’s inswinging far-post cross.
Had Virgil van Dijk’s header looped in and not narrowly wide in added time it would not have flattered Liverpool.
Guardiola experimented with Aymerick Laporte, a £57 million centre-half, at leftback against Everton at the weekend, and he was barely troubled by Theo Walcott.
However, he endured a torrid time against Salah and it was a relief for him – and a worry for Liverpool – when the Egyptian was forced off with an apparent groin injury early in the second half.
The tide turned after the break with City enjoying the sort of dominance to which they are accustomed but they could not carve out a decent chance with Silva’s uncharacteristic poor control in the six-yard box indicative of the pressure they were under.
Jordan Henderson’s booking for a foul on former Reds winger Raheem Sterling rules him out next week but it could not spoil another special night under the lights. Even by Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-breaking standards, this goal was special.
The Real Madrid forward leapt into the air with his back to the goal, swung his right leg high over his head and sent the ball flying past a flat-footed Gianluigi Buffon.
“CRWOW” wrote Gazzetta dello Sport in its headline.
The 64th-minute bicycle kick, Ronaldo’s second goal of the match, came in a 3-0 win over Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
“I had also scored another one similar, but I have to say, this one was spectacular. I jumped very high and obviously it’s a goal that will live long in the memory,” Ronaldo said. “Certainly it’s my best goal.”
The goal was so good that even the Juventus fans rose to applaud Ronaldo – after previously jeering his every touch.
“It was one of the greatest moments of the night for me,” Ronaldo said. “To be applauded in a stadium like this, which has been graced by so many great players, was a top moment for me. I’m really happy.
“I was moved because when I was a kid, I always liked Juventus and the fact that their fans have applauded me will stay in my heart and is a great memory. To all of the Italians in the stadium I just want to say ‘Grazie’.”
Buffon, who compared Ronaldo to Diego Maradona and Pele, was left standing as he and his defenders could only watch as the ball soared into the net.
“I just heard the sound of him kicking the ball,” Juventus defender Andrea Barzagli said. “Normally when you try to do an overhead kick you don’t hit the ball well, but here you can’t even understand how he took it.
“I couldn’t do anything else but admire him and the rest of the stadium did so, too. It’s not that we couldn’t manage to mark him, it’s just that no one can manage to mark him, you just have to look at his statistics. He’s a lethal player, an assassin.”
The statistics are impressive. On Tuesday, the Portugal forward became the first player in Champions League history to score in ten consecutive matches, a run that started in last year’s final win over Juventus. Ronaldo, 33, who has scored the most goals in the Champions League, has netted 24 in his last 14 matches in Europe’s top club competition.
The last goal, though, even impressed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored a similar goal but from much farther away in Sweden’s 4-2 win over England in November 2012.
“It was a nice goal,” Ibrahimovic told ESPN. “But he should try it from 40 metres.”