When Erling Haaland swept the ball home for a first Manchester City hat-trick since August 2024 it sent swathes of Liverpool fans for the exits. Only 57 minutes were gone yet City were cruising at 4-0 and Arne Slot’s men were being schooled.
Haaland’s third, in which Jérémy Doku and Nico O’Reilly walked the ball through Liverpool before the No 9 hooked in off the bar, epitomised the pathetic response to the striker’s 39th-minute penalty opener.
Until then those in red went toe-to-toe with their hosts, Hugo Ekitiké (twice) and Mohamed Salah spurning chances. Yet after the break the chronically impotent Salah missed two more early chances before failing where Haaland prospered – from the spot: at 4-0 down, the Egyptian steered the ball to James Trafford’s left, City’s goalkeeper parried and Liverpool’s misery deepened further.
The beleaguered Slot knows this heaviest defeat handed to his Liverpool side damages his job prospects, because next is Wednesday’s date at the European champions, Paris Saint-Germain. If they go down in similar manner in the Champions League quarter-final, then the owners may have a decision to make.
For Pep Guardiola all is wine and roses. This first outing since downing Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final ended in extending City’s record to an eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final – one more phenomenal statistic in a slew returned by a phenomenon of a manager.
Yet Liverpool, themselves eight time Cup-winners whose last triumph was in 2022, began brightly, Florian Wirtz and Ekitiké combining for the German to shoot. Next, Dominik Szoboszlai spun a free-kick on to Ibrahima Konaté’s head and Trafford saved.
Guardiola, in a posh seat because of a two-game touchline ban, instructed his front four of Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Haaland and Doku to press high when Giorgi Mamardashvili restarted from Liverpool’s goal.
City’s formation was a familiar 4-2-3-1, Liverpool’s a curio of a nominal 4-4-2, with Ekitiké and Salah as a split front two and Wirtz invited to join them centrally.
Perhaps Slot’s thinking was seen when a downfield Mamardashvili punt put Salah in on the left – from close in his effort was deflected to safety by Abdukodir Khusanov.
At this point the contest was contested in a wall of noise and when Cherki feinted in Liverpool’s area and went down as Milos Kerkez challenged him, City’s scream for a penalty further upped the febrile atmosphere.
Now came Ekitiké crashing the ball over after Rodri handed it to him. This would haunt Liverpool. So, too, Virgil van Dijk’s miss when Joe Gomez’s flighted delivery landed at the captain’s feet plum before Trafford’s posts: instead of pulling the trigger he turned possession back, and City escaped.
What came next was poorer from Van Dijk. When O’Reilly received the ball in Liverpool’s area, the Dutchman hooked his right foot around the left-back and felled him. It was easy for Michael Oliver to award a penalty despite the usual – and surely performative, in this case – protestations. Haaland beat Mamardashvili to the keeper’s left and celebrated with a playful kick of the right corner flag.
Haaland’s second, in first-half added time, closed a sweet City sequence. Matheus Nunes fed Cherki, whose tap for Semenyo was simple – and devastating. The Ghanaian’s cross was flicked by Haaland into Mamardashvili’s right side-netting and it was 2-0 City, Oliver blowing for the refreshments seconds later.
Liverpool were impotent, Salah’s first appearance since announcing his departure close to a nonevent. What could Slot do? If he ordered his team to up tempo and intent, it made zero difference because City scored again, five minutes into the second period.
This was shambolic from Liverpool. Gomez’s throw-in went straight to Marc Guéhi, who found O’Reilly, who relayed to the effervescent Cherki. Semenyo was played in and, as Mamardashvili advanced, the winger’s left-footed deft lob was sublime.
Soon after, Salah skewed wide, a second miss of the half so far and the fourth in all of a depressing display – by him and the storied team he has graced for the past nine seasons.
When Cherki was taken off he briefly put on the also-substituted Ekitiké’s shirt (they are friends). He waved in apology but it mattered not as he and City were supreme all day.
