67 min: Man City 4 Liverpool 0
Slot orders a triple change, with Mac Allister, Ngumoha and Gakpo on for Gravenberch, Wirtz and Ekitike.
TRAFFORD STOPS SALAH’S PENALTY
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The Liverpool forward steps up and takes the penalty. He goes for a low effort to the right, but Trafford reads him and makes the save.
The Etihad cheer it like a goal and that sums up Liverpool’s miserable afternoon.
LIVERPOOL PENALTY!
Ekitike bursts forward and is clipped by Nunes. It’s a definite penalty and a chance for Liverpool to restore some pride. Salah will take it.
62 min: Man City 4 Liverpool 0
Both sides make changes. For City, Gonzalez and Savinho replace Rodri and Doku. Meanwhile, Gomez departs for Frimpong in the Liverpool defence.
Man City are brutally mocking Liverpool
They are doing the Poznan in the Tunnel Club. It is that kind of afternoon. City shooting from the halfway line and smashing finishes in off the bar. It has been a blitz of goals in the last 15 minutes.
GOAL! HAALAND HAS A HAT-TRICK
Liverpool have crumbled and Man City are ripping them apart. O’Reilly and Doku combine so effectively on the counter, and the Englishman unselfishly squares the ball to Haaland.
From close range, the striker hits a first-time effort that clips the underside of the bar before nestling in the net.
56 min: Man City 3 Liverpool 0
Liverpool come forward and the ball is worked out to Salah. The winger is occupying a prime position, where he has scored so many times for Liverpool, but he’s leaning back and curls his effort well wide.
54 min: Man City 3 Liverpool 0
Semenyo picks up the ball and tries scoring from inside his own half. He spots Mamardashvili off his line and launches an audacious effort at goal. It has the Liverpool goalkeeper back pedalling, but it’s just off target.
Semenyo has been a stunning addition to Man City
Let’s say Manchester City win the title this year. Would Antoine Semenyo be in the running for PFA player of the year? He left Bournemouth in a dignified manner and has hit the ground running at Manchester City.
GOAL! SEMENYO ADDS A THIRD
Man City are purring and its an magnificent finish. Silva finds a pocket of space, picks his head up and threads a perfectly-weighted pass through to Semenyo, who breaches the Liverpool backline by sneaking in behind Van Dijk.
The former Bournemouth star then chips a delightful dink into the net and Man City are really cruising now.
Worrying signs for Liverpool
The concerning thing from a Liverpool perspective is City have not even needed to play particularly well to earn a 2-0 lead. They upped the tempo in the last nine or 10 minutes of the half but they’ve been managing Liverpool a bit like they might a lesser light here and then picked them off when the opportunity strikes. Two goals for Haaland will do him the world of good. He’d only got five since December before today.
HT: Man City 2 Liverpool 0
For the first 35 minutes, Liverpool were the better side, with Salah and Ekitike both wasting presentable chances.
However, the game was flipped on its head in the 37th minute when Van Dijk fouled O’Reilly to concede a penalty.
Unsurprisingly, Haaland tucked the spot kick away to open the scoring, before his header on the stroke of half time doubled the hosts’ advantage. It’s a long way back for Liverpool now…
