Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool: Haaland hat-trick sends City back to Wembley | OneFootball

An Erling Haaland hat-trick and an Antoine Semenyo goal helped Pep Guardiola’s side dispatch Liverpool to reach an eighth successive FA Cup semi-final.

After an end-to-end first half, City took control of the quarter-final after Erling Haaland’s penalty. Haaland quickly grabbed a second, heading home from Antoine Semenyo’s inviting cross.

The second half started in the same way as the first, with Semenyo scoring a lovely dink, before Haaland fired home his hat-trick to confirm a quick return to Wembley for Manchester City.

A terrible day for Liverpool was only made worse after Mohamed Salah missed a penalty in his first game since announcing his departure in the Summer.

As it happened

Liverpool started the brighter of the two teams, and had a few early sights of the Manchester City goal. Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike were combining well and both had early efforts that they failed to make the most of.

The best chance of the opening period of the game fell to Mohamed Salah. He latched onto a long ball from Giorgi Mamardashvili and looked set to fire home but the Egyptian dallied on the ball and allowed Abdukodir Khusanov to use his incredible pace to recover and get a challenge in.

At the other end, Rayan Cherki then had a huge chance of his own. The usual supreme technician failed to control a lovely threaded pass from Bernardo Silva and Mamardashvili was able to come out and smother the ball.

The chances continued to fall Liverpool’s way, as Ekitike passed up another decent opportunity. Rodri was unable to get the ball under control in his own penalty area and the ball landed at the Frenchman’s feet, whose powerful effort blazed over the bar.

On 36 minutes, the game had its first huge moment, as Nico O’Reilly, fresh off the back of his double in the Carabao Cup final two weeks ago, was brought down in the Liverpool box by Virgil Van Dijk, and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot to award the hosts a penalty. Up stepped Erling Haaland from 12 yards and he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give Manchester City the lead in the first FA Cup quarter-final of the weekend.

That goal shifted the momentum completely in City’s favour, and unlike Liverpool, they made it count and grabbed a second goal before half-time. Cherki did brilliantly down the right hand side before finding Antoine Semenyo, his cross was perfect and inviting for Erling Haaland again who got there before Ibrahima Konaté and found the net to send City into the break with a two goal advantage.

The second half continued in the same way the first ended, with Manchester City scoring. O’Reilly found Cherki in between the Liverpool defence and midfield, he played a perfectly timed pass into Antoine Semenyo who elegantly dinked the ball over the onrushing Mamardashvili into the net to surely cement a semi-final place for the hosts.

Salah nearly got one back for Liverpool quickly after but his low effort was well kept out by James Trafford. At the other end, Cherki brilliantly carried the ball forward before again finding Semenyo in front of goal, but a poor touch let him down and the chance went begging.

But it didn’t take long before they grabbed that fourth, and of course, it was Haaland who got it to complete his hat-trick. Liverpool were caught wide open on the break, as Jérémy Doku slid a ball through to O’Reilly who’s cut back found the Norwegian striker who fired the ball home via the crossbar.

Things just went from bad to worse for Liverpool after Salah, in his first game since announcing his departure in the summer, had a penalty well saved by James Trafford.

The game petered out in the second half, as both sides took off key players to rest them for the big games coming up in the near future.

Manchester City now have a week off to prepare for their trip to Chelsea as they try to hunt down Arsenal in the Premier League title race. Unlike City, Liverpool have to reset and go again, and quickly. They travel to Paris to take on PSG in the Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

Manchester City analysis: City’s unbelievable attack

City struggled to get a foothold in the game for the majority of the first half, but once they scored, the momentum swung and City took full advantage. After getting that first goal, they looked unstoppable.

The level of quality in the Manchester City attack is scary. Bernardo Silva, Jérémy Doku, Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki. These guys are some of the most technically gifted players in the league, and when they are at their best, they can create chance after chance for Erling Haaland – the best striker in the world. With performances like today and the Carabao Cup final, it does make you wonder how Manchester City are nine points behind Arsenal in the Premier League and already out of the Champions League.

Liverpool analysis: What went wrong?

The system deployed by Arne Slot caused Manchester City problems in the early exchanges. Liverpool lined up with nobody regularly occupying the central striker area, with Florian Wirtz often dropping into the number 10 position, with Ekitike and Salah starting wide, and making narrow runs in behind. This helped Liverpool have a lot of control in the opening periods, with Wirtz and Ekitike in particular roaming across the pitch linking up with one another. This all changed however after City scored the opening goal.

Arne Slot will be scratching his head, wondering how on earth his side completely fell apart after conceding the first goal. On another day, they take one of those early chances and maybe it could have been a completely different outcome. An 18 minute spell either side of half-time saw the visitors concede four goals as the game was taken away from them by a ruthless City side. Slot will have to try and ready his team to go again in a few days time, when they travel to Paris to take on the Champions League holders. If they play the way they did after conceding the first goal, they will be taken apart in similar fashion.