City Brings Liverpool Back to Earth and Celebrates Guardiola's 1,000 Matches

City overwhelmed Liverpool at the Etihad. It was the perfect gift for Guardiola, who celebrated his 1,000th match as a manager in this pivotal encounter. The Manchester side was an almost perfect machine that steamrolled over a subdued and ineffective Liverpool, returning to their harsh reality after their Champions League victory against Real Madrid. Haaland and Nico sank the 'reds' in the first half, while a sensational Doku buried any visiting hopes to present a solid bid to challenge for the Premier League.

The last match of the day pitted two title contenders who were struggling to find consistency in the Premier League, but eager to capitalize on Arsenal's slip against Sunderland to put pressure on the leader before the international break. The clash did not disappoint from the outset. Both teams wanted to take control from the start, imposing a high tempo.

Guardiola's men, true to their style, quickly took possession of the ball against a Liverpool side that arrived buoyant after defeating Real Madrid in the Champions League, but found themselves outplayed in the early stages. This led to the first controversy. Doku capitalized on a Bradley error to face Mamardashvili, who brought down the Belgian. After a VAR review, a penalty was awarded. Haaland stepped up to take the penalty, but his shot was saved by the Georgian goalkeeper, turning from villain to hero in the blink of an eye to keep the score level.

The missed penalty by City awakened Liverpool, who managed to level the playing field, although they struggled to find any of their forwards, who were missing in action. However, Haaland, who had missed the first chance, would not do so a second time. Matheus Nunes delivered an excellent pass for the Norwegian to outmuscle Konaté and head home to open the scoring at the Etihad.

City's dominance returned. But just when Liverpool seemed down and out, Slot's men gave the Etihad a scare. In their first and only dangerous chance of the first half, Salah delivered a corner to the heart of the 'cityzen' area for the towering Van Dijk to equalize, although it was ruled out for an offside by Robertson. As the first half drew to a close, Guardiola's side was not content with the scoreline. Nico, with a shot that deflected off the Dutch defender, scored the second to put a completely ineffective 'red' team on the ropes.

Liverpool, completely overwhelmed, welcomed the halftime break to try to turn the situation around. But it wasn't until Slot stirred things up, bringing on Gakpo and Kerkez, that the 'reds' shifted into a higher gear and grew in intensity. They came close to reducing the deficit, first with a poor clearance from Nico that nearly resulted in an own goal, and then in the next collective play, Gapko failed to finish successfully.

Against the best, those who miss their chances pay dearly. Just when Liverpool seemed to be improving, City's decisive blow arrived. After a brilliant counterattack, Doku, who was unstoppable on a magnificent afternoon, conjured a stunning goal that left Mamardashvili with no answer. It was a blow too hard to recover from, shattering any hope for the 'red' team, left on the canvas with all their ghosts haunting them once more. Slot and his remaining squad have work to do during this break.