Man City mark Guardiola’s 1000th match with thumping win over Liverpool

Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola's 1000th match as a manager with a commanding 3-0 win over defending champions Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. With the victory, the Citizens moved up to second in the Premier League table, closing the gap with leaders Arsenal to four points.

Liverpool came into the with a midweek Champions League victory against Real Madrid, but lost rhythm immediately after kick-off. Aside from an early penalty save, Arne Slot's men struggled to create anything meaningful, while City stretched the lead through Erling Haaland, Nico González and Jérémy Doku.

City earned a penalty in the 9th minute when Doku weaved past two defenders and went down after contact with goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. Following a VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot, but Mamardashvili dived to his left to deny Haaland.

With Mamardashvili's save, City have now failed to score from four of their last five penalties against Liverpool. In contrast, no goalkeeper in Europe's top five leagues has saved more penalties than the Georgian shot-stopper (6) since the start of the 2023-24 season.

The miss did not keep City waiting long. In the 29th minute, Matheus Nunes whipped in a cross from the right and Haaland headed in to break the deadlock. The 25-year-old Norwegian, the league's top scorer, has now netted 14 goals in 11 Premier League matches, and 28 in 18 games across all competitions for club and country this season. His league tally now stands at 99 goals in 108 matches.

Liverpool briefly thought they had equalized in the 38th minute when Virgil van Dijk headed home from a corner, but VAR ruled it out as Andrew Robertson, standing on the goal-line in an offside position, obstructed the goalkeeper's view.

City doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time. Nico González's strike from outside the box took a heavy deflection off Van Dijk and found the net.

Doku, who tormented Liverpool throughout, sealed the victory for City with a brilliant third in the 63rd minute. Collecting a pass from Nico O'Reilly outside the box, he created space and curled a superb effort into the top corner at the far post. It was his first Premier League goal in 24 matches.

Pep's men dominated in attack, registering 14 shots with six on target, while Liverpool managed just one shot on target from seven attempts. In the 75th minute, Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Dominik Szoboszlai's powerful long-range effort — Liverpool's only meaningful chance.

With the result, City defeated Liverpool in the league for the first time since April 2023, having failed to win in the previous four meetings. They now have 22 points with seven wins and one draw from 11 matches. League leaders Arsenal are four points ahead from the same number of games.

Liverpool, on the other hand, suffered their fifth defeat of the season and slipped to eighth with 18 points. They had ended a run of four consecutive league losses with a win in the previous round, but defeat returned to haunt Slot's side.