Invincible? No. Quadruple? No. Treble? No. Double? Yes.
Manchester City got knocked out of the UEFA Champions League after tonight’s 1-2 loss to Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. The tie ends with an aggregate score of 5-1 as Pep Guardiola will picking the scraps of his third loss within a week.
The Citizens came on to clear their 3-goal deficit from the first leg. An error from Loris Karius and Virgil Van Dijk, allowed Raheem Sterling to find space on the right. The Englishman squared it off to an open Gabriel Jesus, who calmly guided the ball into the back of the net.
It was all City in the first half as they came close to scoring their second. Leroy Sane’s backdoor run and tapped in goal got ruled out for offside. Sterling too was pulled off the ball by Andrew Robertson inside the penalty box but was ignored by the referee.
Guardiola was livid with rage and let his opinions known after the second half only to be sent off to the stands for the second. Liverpool almost ended the tie with just one counter attacking play. Mane somehow managed to squeeze his way through the City defence and Mohamed Salah picked up the rebound from Ederson’s hand, a calm chip over the clueless Otamendi.
Firmino killed of the tie in the 77th minute by curling the ball past Ederson.
1-2 after 90 minutes.
Here is how the City players were rated on the night.
Ederson – 6/10
Let off by his own defence for the first goal and helpless for the next.
Nicolas Otamendi – 5/10
Allowing Mane to cut inside so easily ended up costing his team.
Aymeric Laporte – 6/10
Never easy to take one a charged Mohamed Salah, but the Laporte did well.
Kyle Walker – 6/10
Wasn’t allowed to venture forward. maintained his discipline at the back and held off Firmino well enough.
Fernandinho – 8/10
Tireless runner and a defensive beast. Covered every blade of grass and won the ball back for his team on countless occasions.
David Silva – 6/10
Very crafty with his touches and always found space on the left but not much in terms of end product.
Kevin De Bruyne – 7/10
An usual De Bruyne performance of perfectly weighted passes and clever link up plays. His tackles were also spot on tonight.
Bernardo Silva – 8/10
Wonderfully inventive on the right wing and had some of the best City chances. Unlucky to have both his left footed shots miss the goal by a matter of inches.
Leroy Sane – 5/10
Very limited in his options on the left wing mostly due to the impressive work from Alexander Arnold. He did threaten with his backdoor runs and came close to scoring City’s second.
Raheem Sterling – 6/10
Earned himself an assist but otherwise pretty quite.
Gabriel Jesus – 7/10
A cool and composed finish from the Brazilian. He did the needful. Pressured the Liverpool defenders and constantly threatened with his off the ball movement.
Substitutes:
Sergio Aguero – 5/10
Came on too late to be of any relevance.
Ilkay Gundogan – NA
