Manchester City eased into the FA Cup semifinals as they battered Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, with Erling Haaland grabbing a clinical hat trick. <\/p>\n
After an even first half, Liverpool imploded just before the break with Virgil van Dijk giving away a penalty kick which Haaland converted and moments later Haaland superbly headed home a second. <\/p>\n
Antoine Semenyo scored a superb goal, created by the brilliant Rayan Cherki, to make it 3-0 early in the second half and Haaland finished off another fine team move to seal his hat trick and make it 4-0 before the hour mark. <\/p>\n
At 4-0 Mohamed Salah had a penalty kick saved by James Trafford to sum up Liverpool\u2019s miserable day as most of their away fans left way before the final whistle as Arne Slot\u2019s side were so poor defensively. Pep Guardiola, who watched on from the stands, will be delighted with City\u2019s display as they followed up their League Cup final win before the break with a dominant, ruthless performance. <\/p>\n
City have found their first-choice front four<\/p>\n
Manchester City have taken a while to find their best quartet in attack but now it\u2019s crystal clear: Semenyo on the right, Cherki in the middle and Doku on the left underneath Haaland. For much of the first half City were involved in an end-to-end game and Liverpool had chances they failed to take. City didn\u2019t make that same mistake. The quality of O\u2019Reilly to turn and win the penalty kick was excellent, then Cherki and Semenyo combined calmly to set up Haaland for his second before the same duo combined again with Semenyo dinking home a fine third. Doku was in on the act with O\u2019Reilly to set up Haaland\u2019s third and City\u2019s fourth and the attacking passing and moving was sublime and Liverpool essentially gave up trying to defend it. City still made some mistakes defensively but that was mostly because they were getting bored with how easy this win was. When spring time arrives City kick into top gear and their League Cup final win and this demolition of Liverpool in the FA Cup quarters will act as a serious warning to Arsenal in the Premier League title race. <\/p>\n
Manchester City vs Liverpool score: 4-0 <\/p>\n
Haaland 39′, 45+2′, 57′, Semenyo 50′<\/p>\n
Manchester City vs Liverpool live updates! City are just easing to the finish line now <\/p>\n
Haaland comes off and gets a standing ovation, while City are letting Liverpool have plenty of the ball because they aren\u2019t really doing anything with it. <\/p>\n
Penalty to Liverpool… but Salah misses!<\/p>\n
Nunes catches Ekitike in the box and it\u2019s a clear penalty kick. Mohamed Salah steps up but James Trafford saves his poor penalty kick. That sums up Liverpool\u2019s day. <\/p>\n
Doku and Rodri are off<\/p>\n
Savinho and Nico Gonzalez are on for Doku and Rodri. City can start to take their foot off the gas and give players a well-deserved rest. Still just under 30 minutes to go.<\/p>\n
Haaland seals his hat trick! <\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly plays in Doku down the left and his pass back to O\u2019Reilly in the box is perfect. O\u2019Reilly then cuts the ball back to Haaland who slams his shot off the crossbar and in. Haaland has three, City have four and Liverpool are in big trouble. <\/p>\n
Trafford denies Salah <\/p>\n
Mohamed Salah is in down the right and his low shot is saved well by James Trafford. Liverpool trying to get back in this but City are full of confidence and look like scoring every time they come forward. Semenyo just had a shot from inside his own half which almost flew in, so that sums up City\u2019s confidence levels quite nicely. <\/p>\n
Semenyo dinks home after Cherki\u2019s superb pass! <\/p>\n
City have a third goal right at the start of the second half and Rayan Cherki clips a lovely ball through the heart of Liverpool\u2019s defense and Antoine Semenyo is just onside. He still has a lot to do but dinks home a lovely finish past Mamardashvili. That is surely it for Liverpool now. <\/p>\n
Half time thoughts as Liverpool implode<\/p>\n
For most of that half Liverpool looked the more dangerous team, but they couldn\u2019t break through and they were punished for two defensive mistakes. That sums up their season. Van Dijk and Konate were both caught out just before half time and Haaland\u2019s goals have City with one foot at Wembley for the semifinal. <\/p>\n
Haaland heads home another! <\/p>\n
Erling Haaland is inevitable. Cherki plays in Semenyo down the right and his clipped cross is perfect for Haaland who beats Konate to the ball and flicks home a header into the far corner. 2-0 to City. Game over? <\/p>\n
Penalty to Man City… and Haaland slots home! <\/p>\n
Nico O\u2019Reilly turns really well in the box and Virgil van Dijk totally mistimes his challenge. It\u2019s a clear penalty. Haaland goes with a short run up and slots home calmly as Mamardashvili dives the other way. <\/p>\n
Rodri is booked <\/p>\n
Rodri is booked for pulling back Ekitike after his lovely turn set him free on the counter. Gravenberch was shown a yellow card earlier, so that isn\u2019t ideal for either team to stop counters… but great for the neutrals! <\/p>\n
Ekitike smashes over! <\/p>\n
Lovely play from Liverpool down the right and the ball drops to Ekitike in the box. He smashes it towards goal but it\u2019s always rising and flies over. Mohamed Salah heavily involved and Liverpool look really dangerous on the break. <\/p>\n
Cherki goes down in the box but no penalty given <\/p>\n
Man City can\u2019t believe it. Cherki goes down in the box and wants a penalty. It was clumsy from Kerkez, who may have just got the ball, as the ref waves it away. Pep Guardiola up in the stands is incensed. <\/p>\n
Big chances at both ends for Salah and Cherki! <\/p>\n
This is a really fun game and both teams are going for it. At one end a long clearance finds Salah and he\u2019s through on goal, but Khusanov recovers really well and gets back to make a brilliant block on the shot. At the other end a superb through ball finds Cherki in the box but his first touch is loose and Marmadashvlii saves.<\/p>\n
Doku has a shot at one end, while Wirtz has a shot blocked <\/p>\n
Bright start to this game as Jeremy Doku is buzzing around. He has a shot which rolls wide. At the other end Liverpool knock the ball around nicely but Florian Wirtz sees his shot blocked and James Trafford picks it up. <\/p>\n
Manchester City lineup <\/p>\n
Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O\u2019Reilly; Rodri, Bernardo; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland<\/p>\n
Liverpool lineup<\/p>\n
Mamardashvili; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Jones; Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Salah, Ekitike<\/p>\n
Manchester City team news, focus<\/p>\n
Center backs Ruben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol have been out injured, with Stones withdrawing from England\u2019s squad over the international break. Guardiola has a pretty settled lineup in midfield and attack but we could see Rayan Ait-Nouri start at left back with Nico O\u2019Reilly moving into a more attacking role. <\/p>\n
Liverpool team news, focus<\/p>\n
Mohamed Salah was out injured before the break, but the Egyptian could return against City as he and Federico Chiesa have made good progress in their return to fitness. Alexander Isak is back in training after his lengthy spell out, which is a big boost for Slot late in the season. Goalkeeper Alisson is still out, while Jeremie Frimpong is a doubt after picking up an injury during the international break. Wataru Endo, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley remain out. <\/p>\n
Manchester City vs Liverpool preview <\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola masterminded City\u2019s League Cup final win over Arsenal at Wembley<\/a> before the international break and City will be full of confidence after winning the first piece of silverware on offer this season. City are out of Europe but are still in the title race and for this young, newly-assembled team winning another trophy in the FA Cup would represent a big deal. <\/p>\n Liverpool boss Arne Slot is under pressure after they lost at Brighton<\/a> before the international break to cap a run of three league games without a win to lose ground in the race for Champions League qualification. Liverpool are still in the Champions League quarterfinals this season, as they head to PSG for the first leg next week. And with the news Mohamed Salah is leaving at the end of the season<\/a>, it will be intriguing to see his role between now and May as Slot needs to finish strong to ease the pressure building on himself. <\/p>\n Manchester City vs Liverpool prediction<\/p>\n This feels like City are going to come up with some special plan to bamboozle Liverpool, especially in midfield. It will be tight but City will prevail. Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool.<\/p>\n How to watch Manchester City vs Liverpool live, stream link and start time Venue: Etihad Stadium \u2014 Manchester<\/p>\n TV Channel\/Streaming: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City eased into the FA Cup semifinals as they battered Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[99],"class_list":{"0":"post-564237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Kick off time: 7:45am ET Saturday (April 4) <\/p>\n