Manchester City on Sunday underlined the vast gulf in quality between themselves and Manchester United as Liverpool showed their support for absent teammate Luis Diaz, whose parents were kidnapped in Colombia.
Old Trafford paid tribute to late United great Bobby Charlton ahead of kickoff, with supporters unfurling a banner that read: “The finest English footballer the world has ever seen,” but memories of past glories failed to translate onto the pitch, with the hosts thoroughly outplayed by the champions, who did not have to get out of second gear in their 3-0 win.
Champions City made most of the early running and were awarded a penalty after the video assistant referee spotted a foul on Rodri by Rasmus Hojlund as the ball was crossed into the penalty area from a free-kick.
Photo: Reuters
It was the first spot-kick Manchester City have been awarded at Old Trafford since 1992.
Erling Haaland stepped up to tuck home, his 12th goal of the season in all competitions.
City goalkeeper Ederson saved a Scott McTominay pile-driver, before Andre Onana produced heroics at the other end when Haaland appeared certain to head home, but the Norway forward made no mistake just after the break, thumping home a header from Bernardo Silva’s cross.
Phil Foden made it 3-0 with 10 minutes remaining after he was set up by Haaland.
Guardiola said it was one of City’s best performances of the campaign.
“I had a feeling that at this part of the season we are playing better than at this point last season,” he told the BBC. “When we come here to Old Trafford we perform well — last season we lost, this season we won, so good.”
United manager Erik ten Hag, whose team have now lost five of their opening 10 league games, refused to comment on the penalty award.
“It hurts a lot,” he said. “I think especially because first half the game plan went perfectly. It is only the penalty that changes the game.”
Earlier, Liverpool swept Nottingham Forest aside by the same scoreline.
Goals from Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez before halftime, then Mohamed Salah’s second-half effort ensured Juergen Klopp’s side maintain their 100 percent home record in the Premier League this season.
Jota held aloft Diaz’s No. 7 shirt after scoring — the Colombian did not feature in Liverpool’s squad following the kidnapping incident in his home nation.
More than 120 soldiers backed by police are combing northern Colombia for the father of Diaz, kidnapped with his wife, who has since been rescued.
The army said in a statement it had set up roadblocks and deployed two motorized platoons, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and a plane with radar in the search for Luis Manuel Diaz.
Liverpool boss Klopp said preparation for the game had been “the most difficult I’ve ever had in my life.”
“I don’t want to make the game bigger than it was, but definitely, we tried to help Luis with the fight we put in because obviously we want to help and we cannot really help,” he said.
Liverpool finished the day fourth in the table, behind leaders Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and City.
High-flying Aston Villa, in fifth spot, won their 12th consecutive home game in the Premier League, beating struggling Luton 3-1.
Unai Emery’s side made light work of their opponents, with goals from John McGinn and Moussa Diaby giving them the upper hand, before Luton captain Tom Lockyer put through his own net.
Brighton & Hove Albion lost further ground after their sparkling start to the season.
The south coast club took a 1-0 lead through Evan Ferguson, but Fulham leveled through midfielder Joao Palhinha.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal of the game as Everton beat West Ham United 1-0 to give themselves breathing space above the relegation zone.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS