Sadio Mané levels it up as Liverpool take point at Manchester City in title race
The talk has been of trebles and quadruples, of a historic kind of plunder and, plainly, something will have to give – only not yet. Manchester City will probably be the happier with this draw as it keeps them above Liverpool, with one more Premier League game chalked off, although Pep Guardiola’s team had the chances to have been out of sight at half-time ... and to have pinched it at the end.
Liverpool saw their 10-game winning streak in the league come to an end – the sequence that had helped them to cut City’s lead at the top to a single point. In January it had stood at 14, albeit with City having played two extra matches. “A fake lead,” Guardiola had called it. But similarly Liverpool will reason that this was not the worst result for them. Jürgen Klopp did not look too unhappy when he walked over to the travelling fans about 15 minutes after full-time to remove his baseball cap and perform a sweeping bow.
There was pulsating drama as both teams played with trademark drive and slickness – particularly City – with gaps at the back a consequence. Liverpool showed their courage to equalise twice, the second from Sadio Mané at the beginning of the second half eventually serving to keep their dream of four trophies alive, the Carabao Cup having already been won. But how Liverpool lived on their nerves in the final minutes.
City had led through the outstanding Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus while Raheem Sterling would be denied a goal for 3-2 just after the hour by the tightest of VAR-dictated offside calls. There would be further agonies for them.
On as a substitute, Riyad Mahrez had bent a 90th-minute free-kick against the outside of the post. Now, with time almost up, he was played in by De Bruyne and, when he cut inside, he could see that Alisson was off his line. The chip was on. But Mahrez got too far underneath it and, when the ball sailed high, Liverpool could exhale.
Next up for both clubs are the Champions League quarter-final, second-legs – City are 1-0 up against Atlético; Liverpool 3-1 to the good against Benfica – and nobody would bet against them advancing or even going on to face each other in the final. There is also the small matter of the FA Cup semi-final between them at Wembley on Saturday.
The rivalry, which was ignited in 2017-18 – the season in which Liverpool knocked City out of the Champions League – is getting more and more intense. It stands to define the closing weeks of the campaign.
City drew first blood and, if De Bruyne’s goal was undercut by good fortune, his shot from the edge of the area taking a massive deflection off Joel Matip and flying beyond Alisson, it was reward for his team’s positivity. Guardiola had set up in an enterprising 4-2-1-3 formation, Bernardo Silva providing a measure of security to the left of Rodri and De Bruyne given a free role behind the central striker, Sterling. The wingers, Jesus and Phil Foden, were pressed high. It was De Bruyne who released Jesus in the fourth minute and, when the Brazilian crossed low, Sterling had to score. His finish was weak.
De Bruyne’s effort for 1-0 followed a quick City free-kick and it did seem as though he got away from Fabinho a little too easily before unloading with his left foot. Liverpool were rattled in the face of City’s speed and aggression and yet they were level in the 13th minute following their first forward thrust. Andy Robertson chipped deftly to the far post after his team had worked the ball from right to left and Trent Alexander-Arnold volleyed back first time for Diogo Jota to sweep home. Should Ederson have saved? Certainly he was slow to get down.
The City goalkeeper had twice been terrifyingly casual in possession up to that point and he would excel himself on 23 minutes when he faked to clear and almost allowed the ball to run into his own goal. At the very last he played his pass as Jota slid in. Ederson appeared addicted to the thrills.
City dominated the first half, making inroads via direct balls up the channels, timing their runs to exploit the spaces behind the Liverpool full-backs. De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo dragged shots wide while City’s second goal was also the result of them getting in behind Liverpool’s high defensive line. Cancelo crossed from the left after Liverpool had cleared a corner and
Jesus tiptoed around the back, level with Alexander-Arnold, to steer into the roof of the net.
City could have had more before the interval. Rodri missed John Stones when heading square following a freekick and Robertson stuck out a toe to thwart Sterling after a Foden cross. Aymeric Laporte made an important slide tackle to stifle Jota but Liverpool had to do more to get into the spaces behind the City defence, which were there.
They found one immediately after the restart, Salah drifting inside to release Mané, who had sliced clear of Kyle Walker. The first-time finish was emphatic and Jota went close shortly afterwards, Ederson stretching to save, the City defence again in tatters following a Salah cross.
Back came City. Sterling was left disconsolate by the dreaded VAR lines after a De Bruyne through-ball and how Mahrez will want his time again on the last-gasp chance. City’s run-in looks the more favourable, West Ham the highest placed team they will face. The margins remain impossibly fine.