LIVERPOOL GET GUARD OF HONOUR THEN DISHONOURED
This is not a drill! The newly minted Premier League champs Liverpool were hosted at the Etihad Thursday night by the former champions Manchester City. Pep Guardiola had confirmed that his side will give the guard of honour to the Reds. They did rightly so but what happened next remains shocking.
The Cityzens flogged Liverpool 4-0, leaving everyone including themselves shocked at the scoreline. Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bryne pretty much ran the show, and they were clinical!The English winger won a controversial penalty against Joe Gomez which the Belgian converted from the spot in the 25th minute.
Sterling scored himself ten minutes later to double the scoreline. Before the first half ended, City youngster Phil Foden made it 3-0. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp decided to switch things, pulling out the Gomez for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain just at the start of the second half.
While Liverpool tried to get a response upfront, Chamberlain scored an own goal to make it 4-0. Riyad Mahrez thought he had scored the fifth goal in the final minute but the goal was ruled out by VAR due to a handball in the buildup. Mahrez came on for Gabriel Jesus, who has been struggling upfront recently. Despite how brilliant City were, Jesus could not do much. With the Sergio Aguero situation who knows if Guardiola will axe him this summer.
Klopp had to bring in Divock Origi, Naby Keita, Neco Williams and Takumi Minamino yet they could not influence the game much. Keita did well to stabilize the shocked Reds team when he came on.
Liverpool play Aston Villa next on Sunday. Villa might be the scapegoat as they would be looking to transfer the aggression. Not much to read from the match as Liverpool had won the league title – their first in 30 years so they were complacent. City solidified their second spot in the standings and show how competitive next season could be.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.