UEFA Champions League | Liverpool 3 – Manchester City 0

Both sides made it to the quarter-final after registering comfortable wins in the previous round. Liverpool secured a 5-0 aggregate win over Porto, while Manchester City defeated Basel 5-2 on aggregate.

Manchester City will soon be declared Champions of England and thus their attention now turns on the UEFA Champions League. However, Liverpool are a side that bothers Guardiola’s side. In fact, Liverpool are the only team that managed to defeat Manchester City in the Premier League.

Liverpool were the better side during the first half and scored three important goals.

Mohamed Salah sent Liverpool ahead after twelve minutes. The Egyption set up Roberto Firmino whose shot was saved by Ederson. However, Kyle Walker failed to clear his marks and Firmino managed to get a touch. The ball went in the direction of Salah who smashed the ball inside the net.

Manchester City hit back on the 14th minute. Following a fast counter, David Silva served Leroy Sane and the latter saw his shot going slightly wide.

Jurgen Klopp’s side doubled their advantage on the 20th minute. Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain fired a stunning shot from distance that gave Ederson no chance.

Liverpool added another goal on the half hour mark. Salah delivered an excellent cross towards Sadio Mane who headed the ball inside the bottom corner.

Five minutes prior to half-time, Firmino sent a shot from outside the penalty area that failed to hit the target.

The Premier League leaders threatened Liverpool inside the additional time. Nicolas Otamendi tried his luck from distance, but his shot sailed wide.

However, Virgil Van Dijk went close to score Liverpool’s fourth goal few seconds later. Salah’s free-kick was met by the Dutch defender whose header ended up off target.

Manchester City started the second half on the attack looking to pull one back and were close on the 50th minute. Silva’s cross from a corner went into the path of Otamendi and the Argentine centre-back headed the ball over.

Two minutes later, Leroy Sane hit a shot from the left side of the penalty area that ended up wide.

Manchester City kept on insisting, but were unable to break Liverpool who remained organised at the back.

In fact, Manchester City’s next chance on goal was created on the 75th minute. Raheem Sterling delivered a cross from the right that went into the direction of Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian striker attempted an acrobatic effort, but failed to direct his effort on target.

In the remaining minutes, City remained superior and kept Liverpool inside their own half. Despite this, they failed to create chances on goal as Liverpool will go to the Eithad stadium with a comfortable advantage.

Liverpool starting line-up: Loris Karius, Virgil Van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson, Saio Mane, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold

Manchester City starting line-up: Ederson, Kyle Walker, Vincent Kompany, Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, David Silva, Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi, Gabriel Jesus

Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

Assistant Referees: Mark Borsch, Stefan Lupp

Additional Assistant Referees: Bastian Dankert, Marco Frotz

Fourth Official: Markus Hacker