Lineup
Jurgen Klopp sent out arguably the best Liverpool eleven with star singing Nunez on the bench. The area of weakness for Liverpool was in goal as Adrian came in for the injured [player 129820]. Trent and [player 1078] were the fullbacks, with Van Dijk and [player 1920] partnering at the heart of the Liverpool defence. It was the exact same middle three that started in the [league 2] final against [team 3468]. Firmino started between Salah and [player 241036] in the front three.
[team 9] fans were very excited after seeing Haaland’s name in the starting eleven. The other new signings, Alvarez and [player 3354], both started on the bench. Grealish and Mahrez were either side of Haaland, with De Bruyne behind the trio. Silva and [player 186910] were in the midfield with Dias and [player 1869] behind them.
First-Half
[team 8] started the game on fire, and [team 9] struggled to deal with Liverpool’s intensity. Salah was Liverpool’s best player during the starting minutes. He missed a good chance when he went past [player 160956] but failed to finish the opportunity.
City were struggling in possession and out of possession, and Liverpool were much sharper than their opponents. However, somehow [player 1371] went past [player 1743] and was left 1v1 against Adrian, but the Belgian’s finish was poor.
Liverpool were all over Man City, and the inevitable goal came in the 21st minute through Trent. [player 31857] played a lovely long ball to Salah, who brought it down before rolling it into [player 1917]’s path, whose shot took a slight deflection and went into the net.
Manchester City struggled to get [player 154421] into the game, who himself struggled to provide the right movements. When he made the runs well, the balls didn’t come, and at times De Bruyne wasn’t happy with his movement.
However, The Norwegian did get two good chances inside a few minutes, but his finishing on both occasions wasn’t good enough.
Liverpool went into the halftime break with a goal lead. Manchester City did grow into the game and made life a bit harder for Liverpool but weren’t efficient in the final third. Also, there was a lack of urgency and intensity in City’s attack, which [coach 455361] had to solve in the second half.
Second-Half
Manchester City made a better start in the second half. The intensity was better, and the urgency was quite visible. To add to City’s dominance, Pep replaced [player 1116] and [player 971] with [player 336133] and Alvarez, respectively. This double change was enough to change the rhythm of the game as Alvarez’s urgency and movement was causing trouble to Liverpool’s backline.
[coach 455353] then made the change that every Liverpool fan was waiting for. [player 6013424] came in for [player 1461], and Liverpool’s attacking patterns also changed due to the difference between the two strikers.
City capitalized on their dominance as their new signing, [player 21394947], equalized for the blue side. De Bruyne played a chipped ball into Foden’s path, whose attempt was poorly saved by [player 1251], and Alvarez quickly pounced onto the loose ball and scored.
Quite a surprising decision by Pep as he replaced De Bruyne with [player 4842], and [player 96353] moved slightly higher up the pitch. Liverpool responded by making a double save, [player 197] and Elliot on for Trent and [player 323]. Milner went into the right back spot, and [player 23269836] took up the right midfielder role in Henderson’s absence.
Liverpool’s attack saw Nunez’s header clearly blocked by [player 162536] using his hand. The initial decision from Craig Pawson was no penalty. However, after a look himself on the on-field monitor, he awarded Liverpool the penalty. [player 4125] finished it, and now the reds were ten minutes away from starting their season with silverware.
However, Liverpool finished it off in style as a lovely move was finished off by Nunez to confirm Liverpool’s win.
Fixture Details: [fixture 18525887]
Author: Devashish Akolekar
