Manchester City Thrash Liverpool 5-0

Mane was shown a straight red card after accidentally catching the City goalkeeper in the face with a high boot in a fast-speed collision during Saturday’s Premier League encounter. Mané was running towards the goal of Ederson who had to leave the danger area to clear the ball with a header. Saido Mane’s red card in the 37th minute meant that Liverpool were up against a rampant City attack which was ruthless to say the least.

“Of course we were interested in him, but Arsenal decided not to sell him so I wish Alexis all the best”.

Sane grabbed his secondly of the game in deduction time with a superb strike that chose the top edge to round of a superb mid-day for Guardiola’s guys and an unpleasant one for the site visitors.

“Very unlucky. I think everyone knows he didn’t see the goalie”, he said.

“They will always be challengers”. However, the tough stand of Liverpool meant that the attacking midfielder didn’t get his dream move and will need to carry on with The Reds. “Maybe he will not play in the next game”.

Of course it was fearless because Mane was coming.

Nevertheless, Klopp’s side should have restored parity on the half-hour when they sprung forward at pace once more and Mane slid Salah through on goal after a brilliant turn in the centre of the park. It’s hard. We lost the game, we were not too bad in the beginning. And if players are properly defending in midfield (you have a better chance) – we are usually much better at that than we were against City’. Everyone is in agreement that he very clearly had his eyes firmly on the ball and made an honest attempt to poke it past the on-rushing keeper, however this doesn’t just make it a yellow card.

Times have changed over the years, unlike before where a high boot kick would be considered acceptable (Hello, Nigel de Jong) but in heated moments like these, even latest decision review facilities such as Video Assistant Referee can not help much. For the first time under Guardiola, the team weren’t wasteful in front of goal, taking numerous chances they created as well as having two goals chalked off for offside. Both teams were not compact. All three up front were not really involved.

After three-and-a-half years of underperformance in the big games, Manchester City seemed to put their demons to one side in dispatching Liverpool on Saturday.