City ease to win on milestone win for Guardiola

Manchester City 3 - 0 Liverpool

Pep Guardiola marked his 1,000th game as a manager in fitting fashion as Manchester City eased past Liverpool with a commanding display.

Author | Macca

Stadium | Etihad Stadium

What had been billed as a crucial meeting between two sides chasing Arsenal quickly became one-sided, City moving up to second and cutting the Gunners’ advantage to four points.

Liverpool’s recent upturn was swiftly brought to an end, with Erling Haaland once again at the centre of City’s success. The Norwegian forward, now on 28 goals for club and country this season, opened the scoring after making amends for an earlier miss from the spot when his penalty was saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had brought down Jeremy Doku.

Haaland made no mistake on 29 minutes, rising to meet Matheus Nunes’ cross with a fine header into the top corner to finish off an intricate passing move. It was his first goal against Liverpool in a match featuring Virgil van Dijk from the start.

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Liverpool briefly thought they had levelled before the break when Van Dijk headed in Mohamed Salah’s corner, but the effort was ruled out for offside as Andy Robertson was judged to have impeded Gianluigi Donnarumma.

City doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when Nico González’s strike from distance took a heavy deflection off Van Dijk, wrong-footing Mamardashvili.

Doku was a constant menace, particularly down Conor Bradley’s flank, and his dazzling performance was capped with a sublime third goal just after the hour. Cutting inside from the left, he bent a right-footed shot beyond the Liverpool goalkeeper to complete a resounding victory.

Dorku is the driving force behind Guardiola's rebuilt City side

Jeremy Doku has often faced criticism for inconsistency since his £55.4m move from Rennes to Manchester City in August 2023.

This season, however, the 23-year-old has silenced those doubts to become one of the driving forces in Pep Guardiola’s reshaped side, producing a brilliant performance that caused constant problems for Liverpool’s defence.

Doku gave Conor Bradley, who had impressed against Real Madrid in the Champions League, a torrid evening. The Liverpool right-back was repeatedly undone by Doku’s pace, strength and sharp changes of direction.

It was Doku who set the tone for a City display that felt like a statement of intent, overcoming a long-time rival and sending a clear signal to Arsenal that they are closing in once again.

Erling Haaland led the attack with his usual authority, supported by Doku’s direct running, Phil Foden’s renewed spark and Bernardo Silva’s intelligence.

Liverpool, last season’s champions, had moments of promise in the second half, but City remained in control. Each time the visitors threatened, Gianluigi Donnarumma showed why Guardiola has invested in him, notably with a superb save to deny Dominik Szoboszlai.

After a turbulent campaign last year, City’s combination of creativity, composure and attacking menace in this convincing win was a strong indication that Guardiola’s side are re-establishing their familiar rhythm of dominance.