During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he mightn’t play for over a month, but the ‘scoring machine’ Elling Hollan (Manchester City)’s sense of goal did not die. Man City beat ‘rival’ Liverpool and reached the quarterfinals of the 2022-2023 English League Cup (Carabao Cup).
Man City won 3-2 in the Round of 16 match once morest Liverpool held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England on the 23rd. Liverpool, the League Cup winner in the 2021-2022 season, was frustrated by its second consecutive defeat.
The two teams, which played their first official match following the World Cup in Qatar, made a starting lineup with players from countries that did not participate in the World Cup or were eliminated early. Man City started with Haaland (Norway) and Riyad Mahrez (France), who did not participate in the World Cup, as well as Kevin Debrawiner (Belgium), Ilkay Gundogan (Germany), and Rodri (Spain), who were eliminated early from the World Cup. erected
Liverpool also started out Muhammad Salah (Egypt), Thiago Alcantara (Italy), Joel Matip (England), who did not participate in the World Cup, and Darwin Nunez (Uruguay), who joined the team early following being eliminated in the group stage.
The opening goal came from Hollan’s left foot. Ten minutes following the start of the match, De Bruyne’s cross from the left flank was flooded by Haaland and volleyed into the Liverpool goal. Hollan, who scored 23 goals and 3 assists in 18 games, including 18 goals and 3 assists in the English Premier League (EPL) and 5 goals in the UEFA Champions League, before the World Cup break, failed to qualify for the World Cup in the first official match as soon as the World Cup was over. I made a joke out of it. Haaland’s home country, Norway, did not participate in the World Cup as they finished third in Group G of the European qualifiers.
Afterwards, a battle of goals between the two teams unfolded. Liverpool turned the game around in the 20th minute when Fabio Carvalho scored. In the 2nd minute of the second half, when the score was tight 1-1, Man City took the lead once more with Mahrez’s goal, but Liverpool followed 2-2 with Salach’s goal 1 minute later.
In the 13th minute of the second half, Man City defender Nathan Ake scored a goal and leaned towards Man City. Ake scored the winning goal with a header from De Bruyne’s cross. De Bruyne, who experienced the pain of being eliminated from the group stage at the World Cup in Qatar, soothed his disappointment by recording two assists that day.
Manchester City manager Pepe Guardiola said following the match, “De Bruyne is a player who sometimes has to find a spark inside himself and lose his temper. On days like today when you find that spark, you become a great player. “He will forever be remembered as Manchester City’s greatest player,” said De Bruyne.
The League Cup quarter-finals were Manchester United-Charlton, Southampton-Man City, Nottingham-Wolverhampton, Newcastle-Leicester City. The quarterfinals will be held around the 10th of the following month.
Reporter Kim Bae-joong wanted@donga.com
