City Beat Liverpool To Win First Trophy Of The Season

Man City beat Liverpool on penalties after both teams played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in normal time with Raheem Sterling opening the scoring for City before Joel Matip levelled for Liverpool 13 minutes from time.

Although there is no prize-money for the winner, both managers still named a strong line up with nine of Liverpool’s Xi part of the team that started in the champions league final, while Pep Guardiola gave starts to the likes De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and summer signing Rodri.

It was Klopp’s men who started brightly through Roberto Firmino whose snap shot was on target but was easily caught by Claudio Bravo in City’s goal.

The Brazilian continued to threaten and this time he turned provider, setting up Mo Salah on goal, but the Egyptian could only fire wide.

Man City were dealt an early blow when Sane walked off with a suspected hamstring injury. But that didn’t affect them as they take the lead against the run of play through former Liverpool star Raheem Sterling.

The 24-year-old poked in from close range from a David Silva flick following a free-kick from Man City. Liverpool goalkeeper, Alisson Becker got a hand to it but could not prevent it from crossing over the line.

The goal seemed to put City in the ascendancy and they almost double their lead through Raheem Sterling, but Alisson was up to the task this time around.

Liverpool had the chance to drew level through Mohamed Salah who was through on goal once again, but the Egyptian international was profligate once again as he could only drag his shot wide.

The former Roma man continued to find himself in promising positions but could not hit the target.  There was no real chance from that moment onward as City went into the break with the lead.

The second half started with City on the attack and they should have doubled their lead through Sterling once again. The England international was put through on goal by David Silva, but he could only find the right post.

That attempt appeared to bring Liverpool back to life as they dominated possession from that moment. They almost got levelled after Virgil Van Dijk’s volley came off the crossbar but the whole ball did not cross the line- a reminiscent of what happened between the two sides last season.

Liverpool continued to threaten and they hit the post once again through Mo Salah whose shot beat Bravo but could only hit the upright.

However, they almost rued those chances as Sterling was put through one on one with Alisson, but the former Liverpool man fluffed his lines with only Alisson to beat.

Following that threat, Klopp’s men continued to press with Mo Salah still their main threat. The Egyptian international once again came close to levelling for Liverpool but his shot was once again stopped by Bravo.

However, their dominance will pay off as they drew level through the most unlikely source in Joel Matip. The former Schalke man headed in from a Van Dijk’s cross after a Henderson freekick fell into his path.

Liverpool continued pressing for the winner following the equalizer and they almost did, but Keita’s attempt on goal was pushed away by Bravo.  Moments later Salah came close but his effort was once again blocked by Claudio Bravo.

The Egyptian international continued to be a thorn in the flesh of City’s defence and had the chance to win it in the second minute of stoppage time, but his effort was cleared off the line by Kyle Walker.

Liverpool continued to press for the winner with Shaqiri the latest player to try his luck, but Claudio Bravo was once again up to the task.

That proved to the last chance of the match as the game went to penalties which City won after Wijnaldum missed for Liverpool.