Liverpool and Manchester City play out thrilling 2-2 draw

Liverpool and Manchester City played out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday during EPL. The first half was dominated by the visitors but after the break, Liverpool broke the deadlock through Sadio Mane before Phil Foden leveled the score. Although Mohamed Salah once again put the hosts in the lead by scoring one of his finest goals ever, Kevin De Bruyne scored a late equalizer to share the points. There was a tribute to Liverpool and England legend Roger Hunt before the kick-off and the atmosphere turned out to be electric at Anfield as usual.

Bernardo Silva made a brilliant run from the middle of the park to set up Phil Foden on the left side of the penalty area, but the England midfielder’s shot was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker. And then, De Bruyne shot across the face of the goal. Pep Guardiola’s side were taking control of the game and it was almost a one-way traffic. Foden’s deep cross found De Bruyne at the far post but the 30-year-old’s diving header went over the crossbar.

Towards the end of first half, City goalkeeper Ederson released Foden down the left flank with a brilliant long ball but Alisson quickly came out of position and neutralized the threat. Right Back James Milner who came in for an injured Trent Alexander-Arnold was having a torrid time, he was booked for a foul on Foden and City were continuously raiding through the left flank.

It took Liverpool almost 50 minutes at the EPL to register their first shot on target. Diogo Jota made a clever first touch turn to beat his marker while collecting a pass from Matip and his subsequent shot from the edge of the box forced a save from Ederson. And then a minute before the hour-mark, Jurgen Klopp’s side took the lead. Salah dribbled past a number of City players before playing the through ball to Mane, who slotted the ball past Ederson to score his 99th Premier League goal.

Salah’s sensational goal

The tide seemed to have turned as Salah’s deflected free-kick went wide. However, against the run of play, City equalized in the 69th minute. Gabriel Jesus cut inside from the right and dribbled towards goal before setting up Foden down the left side of the box. The Englishman drilled the ball in across Alisson and into the far corner.

Guardiola was furious on the touchline as Milner wasn’t shown a second yellow card for clattering into Silva. The Spanish boss’ mood worsened as Sala reinstated the lead in the 76th minute. It was a sensational solo goal from the Egyptian as he went past Cancelo, Bernardo, Foden and Aymeric Lapote before finishing brilliantly.

But City responded again, as De Bruyne made the score 2-2, 10 minutes from time, to register a draw at EPL. The Belgium international started the move by playing an overhead ball to Foden down the left flank before going forward to slot the ball in from Foden’s cut back with a bit of help from Matip’s deflection.

Both sides had chances to score a late winner but vital last-ditch tackles meant that the points were shared. After the draw, Liverpool are placed second in the points table with fifteen points from seven games whereas Manchester City are third with fourteen.

Klopp said “An exciting game, with two completely different halves. Thank God there were two halves because the first was exactly how we shouldn’t do it against City, the second was how we should.

“In the first half, I can’t remember a chance from us. We didn’t change anything, we just told the boys what we should have done. Things like this can happen against a team like City, with their quality. Our biggest problem was we didn’t play football.”

“It’s a really good lesson for us today, to show a reaction and that was absolutely great. The second half was us, we caused them massive problems.

“Salah’s goal – only the best players in the world score goals like this. People will talk about this goal for a long, long time.”