Man City conceded three goals in the first half before fighting back to score two second half goals through Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, but the Reds held on to secure the win.
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola defended his players after the 3-2 loss to Liverpool in the semi-final of the FA Cup on Saturday. Man city, who came into the match on the back of a hard-fought goalless draw against Atletico Madrid to progress to the semi-finals of Champions League with a 1-0 aggregate win, conceded three goals in the first half at Wembley Stadium. Although Guardiola’s men fought back after the break, immediately reducing the deficit through Jack Grealish before Bernardo Silva’s late strike, set up a tense final few minutes, the Reds managed to secure the win and go through to the final.
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PEP ? We gave everything after a tough first half.
For the first goal, the set pieces they are very, very strong. The second was an accident. Difficult to come back but they did it perfectly in the second half. pic.twitter.com/wmJBXDapG6
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 16, 2022
Guardiola made seven changes to the side that started at Wanda Metropolitano in the mid-week. Kevin de Bruyne was an inside sub and Kyle Walker not available for selection because of injuries picked up against Atletico.
Guardiola said: “I have a lot of confidence in my players. We had a lot of fixtures and travels and a lot of important games and that’s why I picked the team.”
Liverpool opened the scoring through Ibrahima Konate in the ninth minute. The French defender rose above Nathan Ake to get on the end of Andrew Robertson’s corner and headed home past Zack Steffen into the back of the net.
Man City conceded their second goal courtesy of an error by Steffen. John Stones passed the ball back to Steffen in goal, Mane sprinted to close down the American keeper and made a sliding tackle, bundling the ball into the net in the process.
Mane completed his double just before the half time. Thiago played a nice little one-two with Trent Alexander-Arnold on the edge of the box before chipping the ball to Mane on the right side of the penalty area. The Senegal international’s first-time volley flew into the bottom corner at the near post.
The Spaniard added: “The first goal (from Ibrahima Konate) was a set-piece, where Liverpool are so strong and score many goals, and the second was an accident. Then we conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half, but afterwards we showed incredible pride.”
Man City came out all guns blazing in the second half and immediately pulled one back through Grealish. Fernandinho picked up Gabriel Jesus’ run on the right channel. The Brazilian cut inside past Fabinho before setting up Grealish to slot home.
One minute into the injury time, substitute Riyad Mahrez’ angled shot was saved by Alisson and fell to an onrushing Silva to fire home from inside the six-yard box.
Guardiola concluded: “We didn’t look tired after we scored because football is about momentum. We had the most clear chances and we scored goals. It is not easy to do that against Liverpool. We fought to the end and showed our pride.”
