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Liverpool comes back to sink Manchester City 1-2 with a 5-1 agg. Victory
Before the start of their victorious Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp said, “Mo is 100 percent fit and so is Robbo. City’s team is a statement – nice and offensive so this will be exciting. They are going to try everything, and so will we.”
Champions League Last 8 2nd Leg: Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City (Agg: 5-1)
Liverpool goals: Mohamed Salah 56 min, Roberto Firmino 77 min
Manchester City goal: Gabriel Jesus 2 min
Man City are out of the Champions League tournament, as Liverpool booked their place in the semi-finals! Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool advanced to the Champions League last four with a 5-1 aggregate victory against Pep Guardiola’s Premier League leaders Manchester City thanks to second-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. Liverpool's 33 goals in this season's Champions League tournament is the most ever by an English club. City boss Guardiola was sent off as Man City were knocked out of the UCL by Liverpool following a 2-1 quarter-final second-leg loss, which gave the Reds a 5-1 aggregate triumph.
Man City’s Fernando Gabrial Jesus scored the opening goal of the match at two minutes. However second-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino ensured Liverpool reached the Champions League semi-finals. Liverpool advanced to the Last Four with a 5-1 aggregate victory against Manchester City. Trailing 3-0 from the quarter-finals first leg, City made an early move toward victory when Raheem Sterling burst away and crossed for Gabriel Jesus to go past the Red’s goalie Loris Karius inside two minutes. Josep Guardiola's men continued to dominate the pitch for the rest of the first half and came close to making it 2-0 when Bernardo Silva's deflected drive struck a post. Liverpool came through in the second half however and pounced to equalize when Mo Salah rounded Man City goalie Ederson and clipped in after Sadio Mané's piercing run has been halted in the box. At 13 minutes from time, Firmino robbed Nicolás Otamendi and fired in off the post. Salah grabbed Liverpool's crucial first away goal, due to Mané's pace and tenacity in the build-up to the Egyptian's equalizer. After a relatively tame first half, the 26-year-old was much aggressive in the second half, causing the City defense lots of problems down the right flank.
After his club’s exciting win, Liverpool star defender Dejan Lovren revealed the dressing room exchanges that inspired Liverpool into a second-half comeback against Manchester City. Trailing 1-0 at the break after having been swamped by Pep Guardiola's side for 45 minutes, Jurgen Klopp's men were reeling as they went through the tunnel to their locker room for the Champions League quarter-final second-leg half-time. After Lovren sparked his side and Klopp offered some tactical input, Liverpool improved their performance in the second half with Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino scoring to secure a 2-1 win and 5-1 aggregate victory. "To be honest I was shouting a bit at half-time," said Dejan Lovren. "I told the lads to wake up because it was not good enough and I said we were sitting too deep. "Of course Klopp said 'Yes you are sitting too deep because you are not pushing up'. He wanted me and Virgil van Dijk to be more compact and push the team up, but it was quite difficult to push up when City had the ball. It was all positive, there was nothing negative, but I needed to remind the guys that we had 50 minutes to be in the semi-finals of the Champions League and we needed to give more. The first 10-15 minutes wasn't good enough. When you see the second half, again they had a couple of chances but nothing too serious."
Liverpool's victory against Manchester City was their second in a week over the Premier League champions-elect and their third over Guardiola's side who have lost only 7 matches in all competitions this campaign. It extended Klopp's impressive personal record against the Catalan celebrity manager to 8 wins and 1 draw from their 14 matches, better than any of his peers. Liverpool regrets that they have not been able to be more of a challenge on the domestic front, trailing City by 17 points on the Premier League Table to date. "The regret is definitely the first six or seven games of the season in the Premier League," added Lovren. “We had many draws and they took us out of the first place. I would say we didn't have any luck with injuries again and City didn't have injuries all season. It was weird because we didn't catch up well from the beginning. I'm definitely confident that next season we can push everyone, even ourselves, to do better from the beginning to the end. They deserve to be champions but we are in good shape now and hopefully, we can go to the final and it can be a good season for us. Also, we need to finish in the top four for next season."
Twelve-time winners Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who have each won the Champions League title to be named “Kings of Europe” five times, are expected to complete the semi-final line-up alongside Liverpool and Roma, who defeated mighty Barcelona. Lovren knows the club he wants to avoid in the last four. "From a personal point of view, I don't want Real Madrid in the semi-finals. They have a lot of experience in the Champions League, a lot of records and over the past three seasons it is always them," continued Lovren. “But whoever we get will find it difficult to come to Anfield and score some goals. When you concede one goal and score five against Manchester City I think we should respect Liverpool more. People talked from the beginning about Manchester City being favorites and they were favorites, but I think after this there should be more respect for Liverpool." Before the match, Pep explained his team selection, “We have to attack. We need to score goals, so we need players with quality, and Fernandinho can play with the central defender. Sergio Aguero is not ready to play 90 minutes.”
Mo Salah and Andy Robertson started for Liverpool. Vincent Kompany was dropped by Manchester City, who are played Nicolas Otamendi in a back one. Sergio Aguero started the bench.
Squads
Manchester CityEderson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte; Fernandinho; B Silva, De Bruyne, D Silva; Sterling, Jesus, Sane.Subs: Bravo, Kompany, Gundogan, Aguero, Delph, Zinchenko, Foden.
Liverpool
Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum, Milner; Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Mignolet, Clyne, Klavan, Moreno, Ings, Solanke, Woodburn. Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
Liverpool Fc went through to what will be their 18th European semi-final - their 10th in the UEFA Champions League. Surprisingly Roma, who soundly defeated Barcelona Fc, will be joining them. The Reds will now eagerly await Friday's semi-final draw. Buy Champions League tickets for the Semi-finals and Champions League Final 2018 tickets as well as Premier League tickets to watch giant clubs Liverpool and Manchester City compete for silverware! LiveFootballTickets.com has the very best 150% guaranteed football tickets for sale now online from the world’s best online football tickets marketplace!
