Liverpool routs Manchester City

Liverpool blew away Manchester City with three goals in the first 31 minutes Wednesday to secure a 3-0 first-leg win at a rocking Anfield and close in on a first Champions League semifinal in a decade.

On another European night that will go down in the club’s storied lore, Liverpool reduced the best team in England to a rattled wreck as Mohamed Salah — with his 38th goal of the season — Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane all scored.

Salah hobbled off the pitch injured and could be in doubt for next week’s second leg at Etihad Stadium. Still, City’s dream of a treble — it already has won the League Cup and could clinch the Premier League on Saturday in record time — is in serious jeopardy.

The second leg is in Manchester on Tuesday.

1 Also in a Champions League quarterfinal opening leg, two own goals by Roma’s Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas helped host Barcelona win 4-1.

Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez also scored as Barcelona’s home unbeaten run in the Champions League stretched to 26, a streak that dates to September 2013.

The return leg is in Rome on Tuesday. Obituary: Ray Wilkins, an elegant midfielder who captained England’s national team and played for illustrious teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and AC Milan in a 24-year career, died at 61 in London. Wilkins had been in an induced coma after a cardiac arrest led to a fall Friday.