Pep Guardiola threw himself back into his seat in the dugout. The Manchester City manager had just witnessed a moment of sheer brilliance and, like everyone connected to his club, he had to fear the worst. Because bad things tend to happen to him at Anfield.
The blow had been administered by Dominik Szoboszlai, the stand‑in Liverpool right-back, and it is worth dwelling on it for a moment – if only a moment as it was overtaken rapidly by a bonkers finale. When the Hungarian addressed a free-kick 30 yards out, City did not look overly concerned: they put two men in their wall. Perhaps they had not remembered what Szoboszlai did to Arsenal from a similar position at the start of the season.
When Szoboszlai cut across the ball with the outside of his right boot, he sent it curling and dipping away from Gianluigi Donnarumma and in off the post. The City goalkeeper did not move. It was a goal that was fit to win any game. Only not this one. At one point during the celebrations, the Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté wandered over with his hands on his head. What had he just seen? Nothing yet, it turned out.
City’s Premier League title challenge looked set to turn to dust because they really needed to win to cut the gap to the leaders, Arsenal, which stood at nine points at kick-off. They had controlled the first half without finding the breakthrough and then, as has been the case so often since the turn of the year, they allowed their opponents to come back into it. Liverpool needed no invitation as they sought a result to fire their push for a Champions League finish. The Kop was rocking. The goal had been advertised.
City had made the short journey to Merseyside having won only one in six in the league. When Szoboszlai’s goal flashed in, it was not difficult to imagine the reaction in north London. But City were not finished. The outstanding Bernardo Silva was not. Nor was Erling Haaland. It was the acid test of their nerve and courage. The answer was extraordinary.
It was Silva who fashioned the lifeline in the 84th minute. When Rayan Cherki, on as a substitute, sent over a deflected cross, Haaland beat Konaté to head through for Silva, who stretched to lash home. Szoboszlai had played him onside.
Guardiola felt the hope return. Then came the indescribable rush, which is probably still being felt by the City support. It was a ball over the top for Matheus Nunes and he got there fractionally ahead of the Liverpool goalkeeper, Alisson, who cleaned him out. It was a penalty, even though the referee, Craig Pawson, took his time before giving it. The Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, suggested he was waiting for some advice via his earpiece. How were Haaland’s nerves? Just fine. When he drove the kick past Alisson, it was the prompt for wild scenes in the visiting enclosure.
Implausibly, there was more. Rayan Aït-Nouri drew a fine save out of Alisson and there were 99 minutes on the clock when Alexis Mac Allister extended Donnarumma at the other end with a deflected shot. Alisson came up for the corner and City survived an almighty scramble, chaos reigning. It gripped even harder when Silva sparked a break.
Alisson was still forward and that was when Cherki rolled a low shot – ever so slowly – from the halfway line towards the unguarded goal. Szoboszlai, chasing back, fouled Haaland just outside the area and then the City striker blocked him off and the ball went in.
When Pawson picked the bones out of it after being advised to go to the pitchside monitor, he chose to send off Szoboszlai for the first offence, disallow the goal and give City a free‑kick. It was a solution that pleased nobody. Szoboszlai will be banned for the trip to Sunderland on Wednesday.
Guardiola wondered whether there would be yet another twist because there was still a tiny bit of time to play. When the full-time whistle finally went, there was joy and relief for him. Guardiola had only his second Anfield win in 11 attempts, the first having come during the fan-free Covid season of 2020-21. More importantly, City’s title dream lived on.
Slot said afterwards that he felt anger – and it was not because of how his team played in the first half; the loose passes and heavy touches, the lack of intensity. City dominated the ball, with Silva dictating the tempo from a deep midfield role. That said, they created little of clear-cut note, the big chance coming in the second minute when Silva sent Haaland through. Alisson was out quickly while Milos Kerkez beat Haaland to the second-phase ball.
What brought Slot’s blood to the boil was the incident on 69 minutes when Mohamed Salah got in behind Marc Guéhi and felt the City defender pull his shirt just outside the area. It was a clear red card, Slot said. Guéhi got away with yellow. Slot referenced the two big decisions that went against his team in their 3-0 defeat at City last November – the penalty for Jérémy Doku, which Haaland missed, and the disallowed Virgil van Dijk goal. Why were they always going for City?
Liverpool were much better in the second half; they found their pressing game and a fistful of decent chances came. Hugo Ekitiké blew the clearest in the 57th minute – a close-range header from Salah’s lovely return ball. It was forgotten when Szoboszlai scored and so was Guéhi’s foul on Salah. Then, everything changed.
