Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City (Salah 76′)
Mohamed Salah got Anfield rocking again and Liverpool fans dreaming of rekindling their title aspirations with a magnificent goal to split the Reds and Manchester City on Sunday.
Billed at the start of the season as a likely table-topping fixture, an out-of-form Liverpool were instead expected to be crushed by Erling Haaland and the City machine that has started the season so well.
But a resolute Reds – spearheaded by Salah’s brilliance and supported by the defensive brilliance of duo Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez – got the winner their performance deserved.
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City’s Phil Foden had a goal ruled out when VAR deemed a Haaland tug on Fabinho’s shirt in the build-up to be enough to bring back play.
And a frantic game ended with Jurgen Klopp sent off.
Here, i takes a look at the best and worst performances from a thrilling evening on Merseyside…
Liverpool player ratings
Alisson – Was there to match the worst Haaland could throw at him, including a neat low dive to parry the Norwegian’s second-half drive. Was smart to trigger the counter for Salah’s goal. 8/10
James Milner – There was always going to be questions raised when Milner was thrown in at right-back against Foden here, but he and Elliott handled that threat. Great teams need utility players and Milner can still “do a job”. He even bombed forwards a few times too. 8/10
Joe Gomez – Back to his best alongside Van Dijk in a partnership that works best when Liverpool’s full-backs also don’t get caught dallying. 8/10
Virgil van Dijk – Standing up to Haaland is no easy task and City tried to pin the striker on Gomez instead. But Van Dijk was having none of it. A strong display, which included a brilliant header off the line as the clock ticked down. 8/10
Andy Robertson – Skied an early chance and had a forward-minded first half but ended up being forced deeper and deeper after the break. 6/10
Fabinho – Broke up City’s central play well but eventually accepted his booking on the hour mark for a foul on Gundogan. 6/10
Thiago Alcantara – Tasked with shutting off service through the middle to Haaland, mainly by closing down De Bruyne. Defensively this worked well with Robertson in front of him, but Liverpool had little attacking threat down that flank. 6/10
Harvey Elliott – Teamed up with Milner to deny Foden space, and handled Gundogan’s advances too. Grew into the game after fluffing an early opportunity, Elliott had the Kop’s backing. 7/10
Mohamed Salah – Outmuscled the City centre-halves at times and looked back to his impish best, he did the same when rocking Cancelo before scoring. That hat-trick at Ibrox last week appears to have worked wonders. Missed an earlier one-on-one after spinning Dias. 9/10
Diogo Jota – Had a golden chance to score moments after the VAR controversy at the other end. Jota pressed well and linked up nicely on the attack with Salah and Firmino. 7/10
Roberto Firmino – The presence Liverpool needed up front to prevent Dias from commanding City’s third. Firmino was happy to drop back and reclaim possession in midfield. At one stage he even dispossessed Haaland. 8/10
Subs:
Darwin Nunez – On for Firmino, Nunez provided some extra pace that scared City’s defence. Forced a booking out of Akanji. 7/10
Jordan Henderson – Replaced the carded Fabinho with 20 minutes remaining and came into the centre of the field. 6/10
Fabio Carvalho – Swapped in for Elliott with the task of running that right wing just as hard. 6/10
Trent Alexander-Arnold – N/A
Kostas Tsimikas – N/A
Man City players ratings
Ederson – Had little to do until Salah bore down on him, and the Brazilian got the crucial touch to nudge the Liverpool man’s shot past the post. A top save. 7/10
Joao Cancelo – Pushed up high and had plenty of joy down City’s right flank, but the aim was always to get it to De Bruyne. His mistake gifted Salah the opening goal on the counter attack. 5/10
Manuel Akanji – Fared well alongside Dias but was never in a position to dominate his direct opponents. 6/10
Ruben Dias – Not up to his very best at Anfield but even an average Dias is worth having in the team. Was rolled by Salah on a couple of occasions. 6/10
Nathan Ake – Like Cancelo didn’t have a huge amount of defensive work to do as Liverpool’s forward three came in tight. But didn’t really put a foot wrong all game. 7/10
Kevin De Bruyne – Spent most of the game seeking to pick off Haaland with a looping ball over the Liverpool defensive line. He managed it a few times but was occasionally too slow to pick out his man. 6/10
Rodri – Provided the usual midfield cover for the defence but Liverpool all too often bypassed that with a quick ball that neutralised Rodri’s presence. 6/10
Ilkay Gundogan – The motor in the City midfield, Gundogan was first to most loose balls and did the mopping up when his teammates needed him. Better out of possession than in it. 7/10
Bernardo Silva – Ended up straying into Foden’s territory as City sought a means to bypass Milner and Elliott. It didn’t really work. 6/10
Erling Haaland – All eyes were on Haaland before kick off, with excitable FPL managers wondering if he’d score another hat-trick. But the Norwegian was fairly quiet. City found him on enough occasions but he fluffed every chance – including two headers from De Bruyne. 5/10
Phil Foden – An indecisive performance against the experienced Milner. Scored only for it to be rightly chalked off. 6/10
Subs:
Julian Alvarez – N/A
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