Soccer

Liverpool and Manchester City play out a thrilling draw to leave title race in the balance

John Stones opened the scoring for Pep Guardiola’s side before Alexis Mac Allister equalised from the spot at Anfield

Manchester City's Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson fouls Liverpool's Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez to concede a penalty during the Premier League clash. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

David Hytner
Sun Mar 10 2024 - 18:38
Premier League: Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1

Everybody has felt it, the notion that Jürgen Klopp’s end-of-season departure will turbocharge Liverpool to the Premier League title, the team and supporters riding a wave of emotion to glory.

Since the manager dropped the bombshell towards the end of January, Liverpool have barely put a foot wrong, apart from losing at Arsenal. Here against Manchester City, they pushed as if their lives depended on it.

It was Alexis Mac Allister who lit the touchpaper at the start of the second half, scoring from the penalty spot to cancel out John Stones’s opener for City midway through a first half that the defending champions had shaded.

It was a distillation of what Klopp has created at Liverpool – high-energy football, thrilling to watch and it was possible to feel that a winner would somehow be willed in. Liverpool have made decisive late goals a happy habit this season.

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It did not happen, City gathering themselves to hit the post twice, first through Phil Foden – although he did not know too much about a ball that ricocheted off him – and then the substitute, Jérémy Doku.

Liverpool would plead for a stoppage-time penalty, first when Nathan Aké went into Mohamed Salah and later when Doku raised a boot at Mac Allister. And, when it was all over, the first reaction was to marvel at the entertainment value, how these heavyweights had slugged themselves to a standstill. Arsenal would have enjoyed the result and, in the final analysis, City probably did, too. Liverpool continue to believe.

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister (right) celebrates with team-mates after scoring their first goal of the game. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

It had certainly been worth reflecting on Liverpool’s casualty list at kick-off; it numbered 10 after Ibrahima Konaté was ruled out, with Klopp also deeming Andy Robertson and Salah fit enough only to start among the substitutes. City missed one player and one player alone – Jack Grealish.

Klopp was without some big names – most notably Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold – and one of the manager’s biggest decisions had been to start Joe Gomez at left-back. Gomez versus the in-form Foden was a duel that stood out. There would be so many others, Virgil van Dijk winning his with Erling Haaland.

On the Liverpool right, it was Conor Bradley against Julián Álvarez and the latter showed up during an early City burst that carried plenty of markers. The champions were here to cherish the ball, to work it up through the lines to Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva or out wide for Foden and Álvarez.

City might have scored before they did, their approach heavy on strut and personality, some of their pass-and-move stuff easy on the eye, although when the breakthrough came, it needed a double-take. How was Stones so open just a few yards from goal to tap home from De Bruyne’s whipped low corner? It was partly to do with Aké standing in the way of Mac Allister and also Darwin Núñez’s failure to track Stones. What a time it was for him to score his first of the season.

Liverpool had their moments during a pulsating first half, none bigger than Dominik Szoboszlai’s free header on 32 minutes when he ghosted on to Harvey Elliott’s floated cross. The Hungary international had to generate the power on the ball and his sights were awry.

Bradley got into dangerous attacking spaces and Luís Diaz, who had the ball in the net in the 19th minute only for Núñez to be flagged offside in the build-up, dragged wide from the edge of the area after getting a break off Kyle Walker.

City’s fast start had seen Van Dijk make an important challenge on Foden, Álvarez and De Bruyne work Caoimhin Kelleher and, in between times, De Bruyne miss the final action when in up the left. It was neither a shot nor a cross from him. Walker would overhit a cross for De Bruyne in first-half stoppage time and the sense was that City had the greater control leading up to the interval. Stones oozed composure on the ball, stepping from central defence into midfield, setting the tone.

Liverpool needed a break and they got it at the beginning of the second half, from, of all things, a misplaced City pass. Aké was the culprit, undercooking his attempt to go back to Ederson and seeing Núñez steal in. He toed it away from the goalkeeper and was promptly cleaned out by him. It was the most obvious penalty of the season, the only wonder being that Ederson stayed on to face it because he looked to have slipped and hyperextended his lower leg in the act of clattering the Uruguay forward.

Ederson was booked and received lengthy treatment, meaning that Mac Allister had to wait and wait. His penalty, though, bristled with assurance. Liverpool had lift-off. The home crowd sensed that this was their moment.

Guardiola was forced to withdraw Ederson and Foden worked Kelleher at close quarters but Liverpool could feel the adrenaline running through them, especially when Klopp introduced Robertson and Salah. Diaz had taken a heavy touch when well placed just before the changes. Now he streaked clear on to a Salah pass only to fluff the one-on-one finish against Ederson’s replacement, Stefan Ortega; a gilt-edged miss.

It was breathless stuff, Liverpool creating chances, including another one for Diaz when Núñez crossed. Again, his touch was poor, allowing Walker to make the saving challenge. Diaz’s energy was irrepressible. Salah and Mac Allister had sights of goal while Ortega blocked from Núñez.

It was the kind of storm that Liverpool have whipped up so often under Klopp and yet it would blow out, City stabilising and almost nicking it. Guardiola sent on Mateo Kovacic and Doku for De Bruyne and Álvarez and his team almost regained the lead in outlandish fashion. Aké crossed, Kelleher punched the ball into Foden and it flew against the crossbar. Doku thought that he had won it when he cut inside and shot only for the inside of the far post to deny him. – Guardian

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