Before entering the fourth round of the League Cup, Pep Guardiola faced a big obsession: His Man City spent a long time unable to beat Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool whether playing at home, away or neutral.
Man City suffocated Liverpool.
This season, despite the crisis performance, Liverpool still won Man City in both matches (including the Community Shield match and the 11th round of the Premier League).
Pep Guardiola is like being overwhelmed by Jurgen Klopp. He did not win in 5 wits matches between the two (up to the night fight on December 22), but the last 3 matches were all failures.
However, the nightmare ended for the Spaniard in the first match after the 2022 World Cup.
At home Etihad, after a dramatic chase, Man City won the final 3-2 and made Liverpool the former king in the League Cup.
Erling Haaland (10′), Riyad Mahrez (47′) and Nathan Ake (58′) are the authors of 3 goals for Man City. Fabio Carvalho (47′) and Mohamed Salah (48′) scored for the away team.
No opponent makes Guardiola more difficult than Klopp. This is the 27th match between them and Pep has the 10th victory over his German colleague (including the penalty shootout), while receiving 12 defeats.
Pep ends his nightmare before Klopp.
This victory means a lot to Man City, when Gurdiola needs to clear the mentality of the players to find stability and compete in the Premier League, where they are 5 points away from the top of Arsenal.
De Bruyne’s happiness
The key to victory for Man City is Kevin de Bruyne, who returned from the disastrous 2022 World Cup with Belgium.
In the Belgian team, De Bruyne does not have much of a say when isolated by the power of Eden Hazard, a player who over the past few years has lost his form and has problems gaining weight.
The fact that coach Roberto Martinez indulged Hazard and lack of voice made it even more difficult for De Bruyne to play for the national team. In Qatar, he openly pointed out Belgian problems.
“Kevin had a great game. He needs the right fire inside him, just a small spark, to fight hard,” Guardiola praised after Man City beat Liverpool.
De Bruyne played brilliantly.
That fire was ignited by Pep himself, helping De Bruyne find joy and love with the ball.
De Bruyne assisted Haaland to open the scoring, and made another pass to help Nathan Ake seal a 3-2 victory for “The Citizens”.
The dance before Liverpool brought Bruyne’s assists record this season to 14. In the Man City squad, no one else has surpassed the milestone of 5 assists. This shows the great influence of the 31-year-old midfielder.
“What can I say, 8 years he did everything for the club, an absolute legend. Kevin will forever be remembered as one of the greatest, greatest players of the team.” , Guardiola emphasized.
The sadness of Qatar 2022 was turned by De Bruyne into a motivation to win with Man City. His chemistry with Haaland and special weapons in the gameplay that Pep deploys. They are dreaming of a “4”.
Ngoc Huy | 12:25 December 23, 2022
