There’s by no means a uninteresting second when the 2 main powerhouses of recent English soccer lock horns and that definitely proved to be the case as soon as once more in a pre-Christmas cracker on the Etihad Stadium on Thursday evening.
Nathan Ake’s header from a pinpoint Kevin De Bruyne cross after Liverpool have been caught napping from a brief nook simply earlier than the hour mark proved to be the decisive second in a dramatic fourth-round affair as eight-time winners City grew to become the ultimate workforce to e book their place within the 2022/23 quarter-final lineup.
That got here after an electrical opening to the second half that noticed Riyad Mahrez execute an excellent contact and rifled end, just for Liverpool to hit straight again because the searing tempo of Darwin Nunez created a tap-in for Mo Salah.
City began brilliantly on the evening and spurned nice probabilities earlier than Erling Haaland beat Joe Gomez to De Bruyne’s attractive cross to present them a deserved lead inside 10 minutes, but Fabio Carvalho was then in a position to sweep dwelling coolly towards the run of play from James Milner’s move to place Liverpool degree on the interval.
Nevertheless, the holders couldn’t muster one final comeback as they fell to defeat forward of the massive Premier League restart over the festive interval.
For Liverpool, it was the tip of their five-match unbeaten run towards City, with a visit to Aston Villa to return on Boxing Day as they bid to shut the hole to the highest 4 after a tough first half of the marketing campaign within the prime flight.
In the meantime, City are again in motion towards Leeds at Elland Highway on December 28 with a double-header towards Chelsea looming within the New 12 months.
