XtraTime Web Desk: Manchester City’s deplorable show continues, as Pep Guardiola’s men digest another defeat, their third in a row, as Liverpool beat them 2-1 at Etihad to book their berth in the semi final of the UEFA Champions League.
The thunderstorm came just as Jurgen Klopp had predicted, a torrent of pressure from Manchester City that must have felt overwhelming at times, but when it was all over there was the proverbial golden sky of Anfield lore, and for the third time this season, Liverpool had done it.
That is to say they had beaten the team once considered unbeatable to claim a place in the Champions League semi-finals, having first kept their heads while Pep Guardiola’s team unleashed hell upon them for the first 45 minutes.
Leading 3-0 from the first leg, the Reds fell behind at the start of a first half dominated by the home side. But the visitors battled back to win 2-1 and claim a 5-1 aggregate win.City played every moment of that first half as if it was the last minute of the last game of football of their lives and somehow, with heroic defending, and a little fortune, Liverpool were still in a position to win the game, and the tie after the break.
“We scored five against Man City and only conceded one. These numbers are usually not possible,” said the German.
“The boys found a solution in the second half. We had two or three opportunities in the first half already, so it was easy for me and the boys to see the development of the game. We had come through the whirlwind.”Liverpool last reached the final in the 2007-08 season and their hopes of going all the way in this year’s competition have perhaps been raised by the shock elimination of Barcelona.