Conventional wisdom dictates there are two ways to play the League Cup: You either win it or bow out with grace as early as possible.
Liverpool can at least say they achieved the latter here as a forty-day run without a competitive fixture ended with a hard-fought, but ultimately unsuccessful 3-2 loss at the Etihad.
In the cold light of day, Jurgen Klopp will not lose too much sleep. Manchester City's eye-watering strength in depth has allowed them to dominate this competition in its various guises in recent years, having won it as many as six times since 2014. Now into the quarter-finals, few will be betting against that becoming seven next year.
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But what will rankle for the Liverpool boss is how the optimism built from a positive near-fortnight in Dubai was instantly punctured at the home of the team they perhaps dislike more than any other right now in Pep Guardiola's City.
It may very well be Guardiola's first triumph over his rival in front of a full house for nearly four years but the reality is that Liverpool are not City's competitors this term. A first period of the campaign that lurched somewhere between the ordinary and the awful has seen to that, you feel.
And even with the bloodying of City's nose in October's 1-0 win at Anfield, the Reds need no longer fixate themselves with the results of Guardiola's men from here on in in the same manner they have become accustomed to in recent years.
The real hard work for Liverpool begins on Boxing Day when Aston Villa await in Birmingham and that would have been true regardless of events here in east Manchester. The chance to make a statement of sorts upon English football's return was spurned, though.
Apart from the sleepy, slack manner of how Liverpool conceded their first and third goals, there wasn't a whole lot to be critical of here. The Reds just found themselves up against one of the very few teams on planet football who have been their equal in the last few years.
To draw any wildly sweeping conclusions from a game that could have gone the other way on another night would be foolish and Klopp won't have to contend with opposition as classy as this most weeks. Small mercies and all that.
Had Darwin Nunez's shooting been a little more controlled, Liverpool might even be looking forward to a quarter-final tie on Friday morning. The Uruguayan was culpable of three snapshot finishes where more care and finesse was needed.
Having gone so long without a competitive game, Klopp did not shirk the challenge of going as strong as possible as the likes of Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Thiago Alcantara all started and Joel Matip made his first appearance since the defeat to Arsenal in early October. Guardiola did likewise with Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez all part of City's team on the night alongside Rodri, Ilkay Gunodgan and Manuel Akanji.
The revelation of the two respective XIs was telling: Neither coach was willing to concede an inch to the other in this relatively recent high-stakes rivalry, even if the Carabao Cup would not usually be the chosen arena for such pay-per-view-worthy battles.
And it was quite the bluff from Guardiola, after he said last week: "At the moment, we have four or five players, and we will have to wait and see how the others come back. But we just don’t have players because the big brains of football decided this schedule and we are going to play this game."
With bigger fish to fry for the Catalan this season, it was tempting to suggest the framework of his team was constructed solely around the identity of their visitors. He might deny that but there will at least be an element of truth to it.
After a strong start, City had the lead inside 10 minutes when Haaland nudged ahead of a flat-footed Joe Gomez to prod past Caoimhin Kelleher.
The hosts looked stronger, fitter and more composed during a worryingly one-sided opening as Liverpool's midfield, particularly their teenage contingent of Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho and Stefan Bajcetic, struggled to get close to their vaunted counterparts. The likes of Salah, Nunez and Thiago were unable to gather any real momentum as the Reds repeatedly coughed up possession in dangerous areas.
Liverpool levelled with their first real assault on City's goal with Carvalho keeping his cool from about 12 yards out after great work from Matip and James Milner, who was forced off later in the half as a hamstring precaution and replaced by Nat Phillips.
City had their second just two minutes after the restart when Mahrez confidently dispatched after a typically immaculate first touch, but Liverpool's response was swift. Nunez fed Salah just one minute later after he had raced clear from substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's enterprising pass down the left.
Jordan Henderson was sent on for Harvey Elliott before the Reds were caught napping at a quickly-taken short corner that ended with the virtually unplayable De Bruyne curling in for Ake to head home. How Klopp must love an attacking midfielder of such dynamism in his squad, it's now 15 assists in 20 games this season for the brilliant Belgian.
It was indicative of the different places these two squads find themselves in that City, despite their superior numbers of involvement at the World Cup, were able to name Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva as substitutes while Liverpool sent on players like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Phillips and Naby Keita, who, for various reasons, are without so much rhythm and surety over their long-term Anfield futures.
But those grumbles and gripes can perhaps wait for another day. This loss is only cosmetic in the grander scheme and there are bigger challenges ahead for Klopp.
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