Man City advance to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup

Did you miss club football? Manchester City and Liverpool brought back club football with a spark. The round of 16 match of Carabao Cup between these two giants was similar to the battle between Argentina and France! Pure entertainment!

Given the secondary status of the tournament and the absence of some of the World Cup participants, the lineups were not as strong. Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer started for City and Stefan Bajcetic started for Liverpool.

At the 18th second of the game, Erling Haaland had a brilliant chance to open the scoring, he tried to chip the ball over Caoimhin Kelleher. And at the beginning of the second minute, Darwin Nunez was close to finding an opener, but the city defense were able to deal with the threat. The game continued at about the same pace.

Despite the quick exchange of moments, City still had a clear advantage. Liverpool's midfield, consisting of Thiago Alcantara and Liverpool youngsters, could not handle forward passes from City.

Erling Halland showed how much he missed club football. In the 10th minute, Liverpool players were not able to stop Kevin De Bruyne from completing an amazing cross into the penalty area, and Haaland easily got ahead of Joe Gomez. 1:0!

Pep Guardiola's team pressured the opponent in their own half of the field, and in general, City looked much sharper than Liverpool. In addition, the hosts quickly found Liverpool's weak point and began to hit the right side, which was covered by 36-year-old James Milner. The veteran clearly lacked speed, and young Cole Palmer simply tore him apart.

In the 20th minute, Liverpool unexpectedly scored. The goal, however, arose from nothing. Joel Matip provided an accurate long range pass for James Milner who found Fabio Carvalho near the penalty box. 1:1!

In the middle of the first half, the field began to get quite hot, because Liverpool increased their pressure and began to respond more aggressive and sharper to City's attacks. Jurgen Klopp's team lost their captain towards the break: Milner was injured and replaced by Nat Phillips. The second half started with City's goal. Riyad Mahrez scored in the 47th minute. The Algerian took a superb touch around Andrew Robertson, removed Andrew Robertson and shot into the far corner. 2:1!

How long do you think it took Liverpool to level the score? About a minute! Darwin Nunez got in a foot race with Laporte, he easily sped away from the defender and put it on the plate for Mo Salah who rolled the ball into an empty net. 2:2.

Time passed, but the intensity never went away. The pace of the game only increased. City scored again. Nathan Ake simply ran out from behind of Liverpool's defense and headed the ball into a corner. Kevin De Bruyne provide another amazing assist. 3:2!

The game became calmer only towards the very end. 3-2 - City are into the quarter-finals!

by footballmegaminds