MAN. CITY NARROWLY LOSE OUT AS MANE’S DOUBLE GIVES LIVERPOOL VICTORY AT WEMBLEY.
A first-half blitz from Liverpool saw them defeat Manchester City 3-2 in a thrilling contest at Wembley and book their place in next month’s FA Cup final.
‘Citizens’ boss Pep Guardiola made seven changes to the team which advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League in midweek, and his much-changed side appeared to be snoozing, as Ibrahima Konate rose highest to head home from Andy Robertson’s corner to give Liverpool the lead with his third goal in his last three outings. Liverpool have scored 19 goals from corners in all competitions this season, the most of any Premier League side.
Things got even better for Liverpool shortly after when goalkeeper Zack Steffen received the ball and took an eternity to clear it away, giving Sadio Mané the opportunity to slide in and divert the ball into the net to make it 2-0. The Reds rounded off an incredible first-half display when Mané struck across the ball first time to find the bottom right corner for his 10th goal against Man City. The Senegalese is the first Liverpool player to score twice in an FA Cup semi-final since Robbie Fowler against Aston Villa in 1996.
Guardiola’s side knew they needed a fast start to the second-half, and they did exactly that when Gabriel Jesus had space to advance into the area before teeing up Jack Grealish, who fired a shot into the top left corner to reduce the deficit to two and give his side hope.
City were certainly much-improved after the break, but it looked like they would be punished for not making further inroads when Mohamed Salah had space to shoot from inside the area after Oleksandr Zinchenko had failed to clear, though the Egyptian was unable to direct his chipped effort on target.
Bernardo Silva set up a grandstand finish when he tapped into an empty net with stoppage time approaching, but Liverpool were able to hold on to keep their hopes of a historic quadruple alive with their first victory over Manchester City at Wembley, with the result also bringing an end to the Citizens’ treble prospects.
