Reigning Champions snatch draw after trailing twice! Liverpool 2-2 Man City
Liverpool welcomed Premier League champions Man City to Anfield in a huge clash this Sunday. A win for either side would be huge, and for Liverpool it would see them go above league leaders Chelsea into the top spot.
Pep Guardiola's Man City side were coming off a tough game in Europe during midweek, as a piece of Lionel Messi brilliance saw PSG knock them off 2-0 in the Champions League. Liverpool, on the other hand, were full of confidence following a 5-1 win over Porto on the same day. Jurgen Klopp decided to keep the same team following the win, and for City wonder kid Phil Foden made his first start of the season.
Anfield was rocking as 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was booming out and sung coherently by Reds' 50,000 fans. As the game begun, Liverpool put the pressure on, and with the fans against them, City was unable to get anything going, which is very unlike them. However, there wasn't many early chances for either team. It took a moment of brilliance when Bernado Silva broke away from a Liverpool attack, and bought the ball 40 yards up the pitch, taking on numerous players and eventually picked out Foden perfectly in the box, however he couldn't find the far corner from the left side of the box, as Allison got down low to stop it. Just a few minutes later, De Bruyne played it through to Foden again down the left, and he blew by James Milner, as he had been doing all day, and was seemingly tripped from behind in the box. However Paul Tierney, the referee on the day, waved on play and VAR agreed and nothing came of it. The half time whistle soon came after, and it was a disappointing first half of football to say the least. It was now going to be a test to see which coach could get their team to kick on and win this game.
As the second half kicked off, both teams came out hungry and looked like scoring early. 15 minutes into the half, Salah took the ball in his stride in the Liverpool half, and managed to skip past Cancelo and drive at the Man City defence. He then perfectly slipped it through to Sadio Mane, who had made a great diagonal run, and Mane kept his composure to slot it home past Ederson to give Liverpool a huge lead in a massive game. The goal however, was a massive wake up call to the Champions, and 10 minutes later, Gabriel Jesus went on a mazy run across the pitch and found Foden is space on the left, who just needed to take one touch before this time firing home into the far corner, silencing the Anfield crowd. A top finish from one of the best youngsters in the world. It wouldn't be a Liverpool vs Man City game without some controversy though, and that came halfway through the second half, when Bernado Silva took the ball inside of James Milner, and he responded by sticking out a late leg to bring him down, all being whilst on a yellow card for Milner, but the referee didn't see it as a punishable offence. Despite his decision, Pep Guardiola disagreed and made it very clear for all to see, as he began to let Mike Dean, the fourth official, know what he thought of the decision by screaming and shouting in his face.
The game carried on and began to get feisty, with some strong challenges going on and bookings being dished out. It looked like it would take a moment of sheer brilliance to open the game up, and exactly that came in the 76th minute, as Salah controlled the ball on the edge of the area with 3 Blue City shirts around him. He turned Cancelo with his first touch, and then brilliantly took it past the outstretched leg of Silva to get into the box, one on one with Aymeric Laporte. Salah then shaped his body to curl it with his favourite left foot, but chopped back outside, completely fooling Laporte and followed up by smashing home with his right foot across goal to score one of the goals of his Liverpool career. Yet again, Anfield erupted, and the goal sent Liverpool players into a frenzy. Man City players and coaches was still fuming from the Milner challenge, which saw more yellow cards dished out. With 10 minutes left, the game was far from over, and not long after Salah's piece of brilliance, Foden found himself with some space yet again, and he cut it back to City star man Kevin De Bruyne on the edge of the box who curled it with his left foot, and with the help of a deflection, it nestled into the net to make it 2-2. An incredible second half of football that nobody saw coming after the first half. The game was far from over, as Liverpool won a free kick late on with a chance to put it into the box. Salah chipped it in towards the far post, and when Ederson came out to claim, but completely missed the ball which led to Fabinho being all alone at the far post, with an open net in-front of him. Just as it looked he had won it for Liverpool and put the ball into the empty goal, Rodri came from no where to slide and block the chance away. A heroic tackle from one of City's most key players.
The full time whistle followed just seconds later, which capped one of if not the best game of the season so far. Both sides will be disappointed not to come out winners, however after leading twice Klopp will wonder how they haven't finished the day top. An international break this week will allow both managers to reflect on the game more, and both will be hoping to kick on and chase down the leaders Chelsea.
Alex Merson - @AlexMerseJourno.