Manchester City settled the summit match in the English League Cup once morest Liverpool when it beat it 3-2 on Thursday, to ensure passage to the quarter-finals.
The Norwegian Haaland, the Algerian Riyad Mahrez and the Dutchman Aki (10, 47 and 58) rotated in City’s goals, while the Portuguese Fabio Carvaio and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah scored for the guest (20 and 48).
Manchester City had previously knocked out its strong rival, Chelsea, in the last round, when it beat it 2-0.
Liverpool won the title last season at the expense of Chelsea on penalties.
Absence and weight
The two teams played the match in the absence of many of the main pillars that participated with their country’s national teams in the World Cup finals in Qatar, most notably the Brazilians Ederson, Alison Becker, the Dutch Virgil van Dyck, the French Konate Firmino, Alexander Trent Arnold, the Argentine Julian Alvares and the Portuguese Robin Dias, in addition to the Colombian Liverpool’s Luis Dias and the Portuguese. Diogo Jota and the Brazilian Firmino.
Many key players also sat on the bench, as they had just returned to the ranks of the two teams following participating in the World Cup, most notably City stars Phil Foden, Stones, Jack Grealish, and the Portuguese Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo.