The sight of Kevin De Bruyne yanking his Manchester City tracksuit bottoms off and over his boots midway through the first half may be the defining image of this FA Cup semi-final. His face pained like that of a man who has been called in at 11am on his day off to deal with a problem only he can deal with. That problem was a team without purpose being embarrassed by one far more composed and efficient. The clock has not even ticked past 23 minutes at Wembley and Liverpool are already 2-0 up.
The atmosphere in the ground at the time was of red elation set against sky blue shock. It would be 3-0 at half time and a far closer albeit less reflective 3-2 at full time. City’s fightback more down to Liverpool’s comfort than their own defiance. De Bruyne, meanwhile, remained unused.
