Manchester City edged out rivals Liverpool in the fourth round of the EFL Cup in an exciting 3-2 win on Thursday, December 22, 2022
The win sees Guardiola’s side secure their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals while holders Liverpool exit the tournament.
Goal magnet Erling Haaland broke the deadlock in the first half with a close-range finish, but Fabio Carvalho responded for the visitors to leave the scores level at the break.
Man City burst into life after the break as Riyad Mahrez restored their lead, only for Mohamed Salah to peg them back within a minute. However, Nathan Ake scored the decisive goal with a header from close range from Kevin De Bruyne’s pinpoint cross.
The Belgian dropped a Man of The Match performance, assisting twice on the night, certainly the kind of display he was hoping for, to help forget his nightmare 2022 World Cup experience.
Darwin Nunez who missed a host of chances earlier in the game had one final chance to pull Liverpool level, but dragged his shot wide in the 72nd minute, with the Uruguayan striker coming under heavy fire from fans after the match.
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Guardiola has found incredible success at in the EFL winning an impressive four consecutive cups between 2016-2020 until he was dispatched by Liverpool last season. Man City progress to the Quarter Finals where they square up against Southampton.
EFL Cup glory will be a welcome addition for Man City, but Guardiola in the pre-match conference stated that his success wouldn’t be complete without the elusive Champions League title.
Hear from the Managers
Pep Guardiola waxing lyrical about Kevin De Bruyne: “he will play with this fire inside of him. He has to find himself this fire, what a player! How many years has he been at Man City? Seven, eight years? Absolute legend.”
Klopp: “It was a high-intensity game from both teams. We played a good game but not good enough to beat City tonight.”
Fans reaction
@osmanZTheGooner How many chances Nunez?
@etuksmit KDB as usual
@Gbemiga__A People saying we’re too harsh on Nunez. If we get to the CL final and both Nunez and Jota are available who would you pick
@DAVEOCKOP Liverpool sloppy at the back & wasteful up top. Ake drifted in for the winner with no one even tracking his run. A few goals in as many games Liverpool have conceded from switching off. In truth City much better from general play. Liverpool lucky to still be within a goal late on
@LFCLaurie Nathan Ake: Reaches the quarters of the World Cup with the Netherlands as a starter.
Virgil Van Dijk: Reaches the quarters of the World Cup with the Netherlands as a starter.
One of them scored the winner today to send their team through, while the other was resting at home.
