Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup on Saturday as they fell to a 4-0 quarter-final defeat at Manchester City that heaps more pressure on manager Arne Slot. Despite playing some nice football at times, the Reds were undone in the space of 18 minutes either side of half-time as a hat-trick from Erling Haaland and an Antoine Semenyo strike sealed City’s spot in the semi-finals.
Liverpool troubled their hosts early on with their high press, but struggled to trouble James Trafford in the City goal. Mohamed Salah should have done better when he was sent through by a long ball from Giorgi Mamardashvili, but the Egyptian, playing his first game since announcing his intention to leave Anfield this summer, delayed his finish, allowing Abdukodir Khusanov to challenge him as he shot.
Hugo Ekitike, meanwhile, lashed a couple of efforts wide, meaning the breakthrough only arrived after Virgil van Dijk tripped Nico O’Reilly inside the Liverpool penalty area, and Haaland made no mistake from the spot. The Norway international then doubled City’s lead in first-half stoppage time when he got ahead of Ibrahima Konate to head home Semenyo’s cross.
Semenyo himself got on the scoresheet shortly after the break when he produced a chipped finish after being played in behind the Liverpool backline, before Haaland lashed a finish in off the crossbar after being found by O’Reilly following another irresistible City move.
Liverpool were gifted an opportunity to pull one back when Hugo Ekitike was brought down by Matheus Nunes for a penalty, but Salah had his effort saved by Trafford to sum up yet another miserable day at the office for the soon-to-be deposed Premier League champions.
GOAL rates Liverpool’s players from the Etihad…
