MO COOL IN THE CAULDRON
Salah ends City rally after Pep is sent off
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 four second-half goals.
In reality it was probably over some 26 minutes earlier in the evening, when referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz informed Pep Guardiola he would spend the remainder of the game in the stand.
There is a reason an orchestra has a conductor. He does not play a solo, not even an instrument, but he regulates those who do. He sets the tempo, he harnesses the energy of the group. That is what Guardiola does for his players.
In his absence, the technical area sat empty, forlorn. He didn’t even leave his yellow ribbon behind as a reminder of his presence. When the camera panned in on him in the plush blue seats, he looked dejected, helpless, like Superman in the presence of Kryptonite. When Liverpool scored the second, to win, he put his head in his hands.
Credit, though, to Liverpool for a hugely impressive display, even if they were pinned back for 45 minutes here. Once Jurgen Klopp got them back in at half-time, however, they came out a different side: more ambitious, gambling where they had previously been unfamiliarly conservative.
They ripped the heart from City with the first goal, making the second almost inevitable. They have been quite brilliant across these two legs — and clinical in a way City were not. Georginio Wijnaldum started the move that led to the goal, finding Mohamed 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 but then spilled the ball, allowing Salah a trademark finish. Close range, no panic, lifting it into the net, coolness personified.
It was already over, but Liverpool went for a second stake through the heart just to make sure. Nicolas Otamendi dawdled, Roberto Firmino caught him and finished smartly. The home fans began heading towards the exit. It has been a great season. But not, as their coach will surely concede, a great seven days.
As magnificent as Liverpool had been in the first half last week, so City were over the opening 45 minutes here. The difference is that, while Liverpool got the goals and the advantage across the tie they needed, City went in frustrated. So much so that Guardiola confronted an old adversary, Spanish official Mateu Lahoz, and was sent to the stands.
Mateu Lahoz 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 City goal that appeared to have been teed up by James Milner 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.
If Guardiola had sent his team out with a message it was to be relentless, and Liverpool could not get off this ride. The passing carousel, Sir Alex Ferguson would call it when his teams faced Barcelona, but his was more the wall of death. It spun, but faster.
City met Liverpool’s fire with one of their own, fast, furious, the ball recycled in an instant, either by the ballboys or goalkeeper Ederson. It meant Liverpool were never allowed to gain composure, to step off, to stop moving. It did not help, either, that they conceded from the first attack of the game.
One minute and 57 seconds had expired when City scored, the best start imaginable. Van Dijk has been credited with stabilising Liverpool at the back but he flapped after a challenge with Raheem Sterling, debating the decision rather than moving on with the game. The ball was played back into Sterling, who broke through the gap vacated by Van Dijk and squared to Gabriel Jesus. So ineffectual in his last two games — the first leg and the derby on Saturday — Jesus supplied a mustard finish here. Clinical, first time, and past Karius at his near post.
From there, City were away. They had the lion’s share of the ball and with more control in and around Liverpool’s area could have levelled the aggregate score by half-time.
In the 20th minute, Leroy Sane cut in on the left — Trent Alexander-Arnold could not muster the same level of control he enjoyed at Anfield — and forced a save from Karius, who chose to punch, not palm, the ball clear. Then, those controversial calls. Bernardo Silva had a shot on 30 minutes blocked by Milner, who looked to have moved his body, including his arms, towards the ball. Mateu Lahoz was unmoved.
To add insult, he then showed Silva a yellow card for protesting. 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? It’s a close call. Seen them given? Most definitely.
Finally, the disallowed 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 a Liverpool player, Milner.
It was this, in particular, that Guardiola seemed incensed about. Perhaps with good reason. Chasing three is hard enough as it is, without legitimate goals being chalked off.
Shortly before half-time, two further efforts from Bernardo Silva – the first just wide, the second clipping the top of Dejan Lovren’s head and diverting onto the far post.
Then, a portent. The last attack of the first half came from Liverpool — their first serious one and a warning of the fragility of City’s position. Firmino found Salah, who lost possession, only for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to regain it, play a one-two with Salah and fire a shot just wide.
It was a sign of City’s vulnerability. The events early in the second half merely confirmed that.