Manchester City Holds Liverpool At Anfield
Defending Premier League champions Manchester City came from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw in an entertaining match against Liverpool at Anfield.
Liverpool started with Diogo Jota in attack, supported by African stars Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Jack Grealish spearheaded City’s attack alongside Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus.
City were sparked into life after Jack Grealish nearly opened the scoring, but was blocked by Joel Matip. The visitors created chances through Foden and De Bruyne, but they couldn’t convert. However, the scores remained 0-0 by halftime.
In the second half, Liverpool increased its intensity as Ruben Dias was forced to make a good tackle on Jota before the Portuguese forward fired off the Reds’ first shot on target in the 50th minute.
Moments later, Salah sprinted through City’s midfield and then released Mane to clinically slot in the opening goal.
The goal sent Liverpool fans into a frenzy as The Reds turned the game in their favour.
However, City equalised in the 69th minute out of nowhere. Gabriel Jesus bent a pass out to Foden on the left side and the Englishman drilled his shot across Alisson and into the far corner of the net.
City were convinced Liverpool should have been reduced to 10 men when the already-booked Milner clattered into Bernardo, with Guardiola fuming at the decision to allow the Liverpool man to stay on the pitch. His mood worsened when Salah put Liverpool ahead again.
It was a moment of magic from the Egyptian, who beautifully dribbled past Cancelo, Bernardo, Foden and Aymeric Laporte before firing the ball into the net. He’s now scored in seven games in a row across all competitions.
City, who had only conceded once before in the league prior to this match, responded again.
De Bruyne fired the ball into the net with the help of a deflection off Matip.
Fabinho and Jesus lookedto secure all three points during an end-to-end climax, but vital blocks kept them the result at 2-2. It was a thrilling contest at Anfield against Premier League rivals.
“An exciting game, with two completely different halves,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said. “Thank God there were two halves because the first was exactly how we shouldn’t do it against City, the second was how we should. In the first half, I can’t remember a chance from us.”
“We didn’t change anything, we just told the boys what we should have done. Things like this can happen against a team like City, with their quality. Our biggest problem was we didn’t play football. It’s a really good lesson for us today, to show a reaction and that was absolutely great.”
“The second half was us, we caused them massive problems. Salah’s goal – only the best players in the world score goals like this. People will talk about this goal for a long, long time.”
Premier League results
Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester City
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Aston Villa
West Ham United 1-2 Brentford
Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City
Chidi Nwoke/Premier League.
