It is a moot point how many of the world’s best managers are found at the World Cup these days but two of the finest were found in the Carabao Cup, shifting attention back to domestic duty in typically compelling fashion. This is not the trophy Pep Guardiola has admitted he needs to complete his time at Manchester City. But, while he dreams of the Champions League, he moved closer to a record fifth League Cup, eliminating the holders Liverpool FC and beating his old nemesis Jurgen Klopp.
It was the night the club game returned with a vengeance, wresting the attention from its international counterpart, suggesting the standards can be higher here, illustrating that many of the sport’s finest forwards were not seen in Qatar in the last month. Three of them scored, in Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Mohamed Salah, though the match-winner was the only World Cup quarter-finalist to start, in Nathan Ake.
Arguably the evening’s outstanding figure was one of the World Cup’s great underachievers, in Kevin de Bruyne, who set up City’s first and third goals. Having controversially, if correctly, deemed Belgium too old to succeed in Qatar, he looks likelier to secure silverware in the colours of his club.
City were worthy winners, the superior side for the most part and creating sufficient chances that they could have scored a hatful. And yet, in a theme of recent title races, Liverpool showed their powers of recovery by twice pulling level. City struggled to kill them off. Even as a gap has opened up between them in the table, Liverpool might have beaten City in a fourth different competition in eight months had Darwin Nunez shown greater accuracy in front of goal.
Sent off for haranguing an assistant referee the last time he beat City, Klopp left his technical area this time to share a smile with Guardiola and this was another epic to show how absorbing their rivalry remains. They were stripped of some of their premier personnel, with six of City’s World Cup contingent starting and only Nunez of Liverpool’s, but enough remained to render this a classic.
Certainly it provided plenty of plotlines. Take the scorer of the opener. Haaland had failed to find the net in his first two appearances against Liverpool, including a deceptively quiet debut. It was third time unlucky for Klopp. It is no exaggeration to say, as City began with a speed that belied the fact they had not played for 40 days, his threat was apparent from the first whistle.
De Bruyne crossed, Haaland extended one of his telescopic legs to get to the ball ahead of Joe Gomez and volley in and take his tally to 24 in his brief City career. The goal came quickly and it should have arrived sooner. Haaland ought to have scored inside 20 seconds, directing a chip over an unguarded net after racing on to Ilkay Gundogan’s pass. It was an early indication that, without Virgil van Dijk to marshal their high defensive line, Liverpool would have defensive difficulties. When Haaland sprang the offside trap again a few minutes later, Cole Palmer made a mess of his finish.
Haaland’s strike stemmed from City’s other most profitable strategy: the supply line of the magnificent De Bruyne. Ake headed their third goal from the Belgian’s cross. He had almost scored with an earlier header, a minute after Gundogan had a shot parried by Caoimhin Kelleher. The provider on each occasion was De Bruyne, who was irresistible and irrepressible.
His assists sandwiched Mahrez’s goal. The Algerian controlled Rodri’s diagonal ball with a lovely touch; his second, a trademark curling finish, was still better. While City had 16 players on international duty in Qatar, they could benefit from the break afforded to two of their forwards, in Haaland and Mahrez.
Meanwhile, Liverpool looked underpowered and overwhelmed at the start in a midfield featuring two teenagers. The rookie Stefan Bajectic, making just the second start of his career, was booked and then hooked, coming off after 45 minutes.
Nevertheless, he was withdrawn with the scores level after Fabio Carvalho sidefooted in a shot following a pass from James Milner. The architect of the equaliser, however, was Joel Matip, striding out of defence with the ball. Milner then departed hurt which, after Liverpool lost Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino in recent days, suggested injuries could remain a theme of their season.
But even as City were dominant, Liverpool could have led at the break, Nunez drilling just wide and volleying past the far post. Instead, the Uruguayan set up their second leveller, powering clear on the left to provide Salah with a tap-in and make him the first player to score 10 goals against Guardiola’s City.
Nunez could not be subdued, but nor could he find the target, dragging a shot wide when he might have made it 3-3. Instead, the latest chapter of a great duel had a happy ending for Guardiola. And, unlike World Cups, there is only three months to wait before the next one.
