Haaland scores as Manchester City knocks out Liverpool and advances to League Cup quarter-finals

Back to official competitions after the break for the Qatar World Cup🇧🇷 manchester city and Liverpool met this Thursday for the round of 16 of the English League Cup. In search of a place in the quarterfinals, the teams dueled at the Etihad Stadium and the hosts won by 3-2, with goals from Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Nathan Aké. The visitors took advantage of Fábio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah.

Manchester City’s opponents in the quarter-finals of the tournament will be determined by drawing lots. In addition to the winner of this Thursday’s duel, the clubs that qualified for the next stage of the tournament are Wolverhampton, Southampton, Newcastle, Leicester City, Charlton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United🇧🇷

Liverpool enter the field on Monday, to return to the dispute of the English Championship🇧🇷 The ‘Reds’ face Aston Villa, at 2:30 pm (Brasília time), at Villa Park, for the 17th round. The team led by Jurgen Klopp occupies sixth place in the table, with 22 points, 15 less than the leader Arsenal🇧🇷

Manchester City will resume their quest to top the Premier League next Wednesday. At 5 pm, at Elland Road, Pep Guardiola’s men will face Leeds. The visitors are second in the competition, with 32 points, and come from a defeat, in the confrontation against Brentford, played before the stop for the World Cup.

These two! 🇧🇷

🔵 1-0 🔴 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/vSuMdXr1QN

— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 22, 2022

Manchester City dominate the first half

The first opportunities of the match were created by Manchester City. With less than a minute, Haaland received a ball stuck between the defenders and had the chance to hit over the goalkeeper, who was outside the goal. The attacker, however, took it badly and ended up sending it too far.

It didn’t take long for the Norwegian to receive another good pass and open the scoring. At 10, De Bruyne crossed into the area and saw Haaland advance the defender. The attacker did not forgive this time and hit the left corner to swing the net.

Despite not reaching the goal very often, the visitors managed to leave everything the same as in the 20th minute. Milner received it at the entrance to the area, charged towards the goal and played low for Fábio Carvalho to arrive. The Portuguese midfielder finished first in the left corner and tied the match.

By putting pressure on its rival, Manchester City forced the opposing goalkeeper to grow in the game. At 35 minutes, Gundogan received the second post and tried to cross it, but stopped in a great defense with the feet of Caoimhín Kelleher. The Irishman saved Liverpool once again 4 minutes later, when Aké risked a fish inside the area.

Lightning goals after half-time

The second stage started electrifying. Right away, at 2 minutes, Mahrez received a beautiful launch into the area and put Manchester City ahead. The attacker dominated with great style to get rid of the marker and hit the opposite corner.

Liverpool responded immediately. At 3, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put Darwin Nuñez through the left side. The Uruguayan charged into the area and played for Salah to arrive. The Egyptian playmaker just pushed into the empty net and left everything the same again.

After 13 minutes it was Aké’s turn to score. After a short corner, the ball was crossed into the area and the defender appeared on the second post to deflect to the goal, 3 to 2. Liverpool started to dominate possession of the ball and wasted a great opportunity at 28. Darwin Nuñez received it in speed on the right and left in front of the goal, but it took a while to make a decision and ended up finishing to the left of the goal.

In the final stretch of the match, Manchester City continued to offer danger. At 39 minutes, De Bruyne took a chance from outside the area and was close to scoring, but Fabinho was well positioned in front of the goal and prevented the goal. On the rebound, Grealish took it first and Caoimhín Kelleher made a good save.