Liverpool Humbles Manchester City At Anfield As Salah Nets 38 For The Season

Liverpool will take a commanding lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester City thanks to a 3-0 win at Anfield this evening.
The Reds blew away their opponents in the first half, netting three times in the space of 19 minutes to take complete control of the all-English affair.
Having made their dominance count in the opening 45 minutes, the second period was all about Jurgen Klopp's men keeping their clean sheet intact, which they achieved to put a foot in the last four ahead of next Tuesday's return fixture in Manchester.
City had kept a clean sheet in half of their 24 away matches this term heading into this one, but they were behind 12 minutes in from the first shot on target at either end.
Somewhat against the run of play, the Reds hit their opponents on the counter and Mohamed Salah was there to round the move off after Kyle Walker failed to clear a tame Roberto Firmino shot that Ederson parried.
The visitors failed to muster a single attempt on target all half, with pretty much their best opening seeing Leroy Sane drag a shot wide from the edge of the box when he had Kevin De Bruyne crying out for the ball.
Liverpool were two in front soon after, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - also on the scoresheet in City's 4-3 loss here in January - rifled the ball past Ederson from 22 yards before the goalkeeper could truly set himself.
Two goals soon became three as, from the next dangerous attacking move, Salah lofted the ball towards the back post for Sadio Mane to power a header into the back of the net.
That made it 77 goals for Liverpool's front three this term, and Firmino came close to improving that tally further when unleashing a shot that flew marginally over the crossbar late in the first half.
Pep Guardiola , who surprisingly omitted 21-goal winger Raheem Sterling from his starting lineup in a slight tactical tweak, decided against making any changes at the interval.
The first alteration arrived less than 10 minutes into the second period, though, as Salah picked up a knock and was replaced by midfielder
Georginio Wijnaldum .
Only three times had City failed to score in a match this term but, while they were showing far more urgency in the second half, chances continued to elude them as the hour approached, at which point Sterling was finally introduced.
City, perhaps not helped by events before the match when their team bus was damaged , simply could not find their rhythm due to Liverpool's high pressing.
Dominic Solanke was brought off the bench and almost made an instant impact for the home side, getting forward down the wing and picking out the run of Mane, whose shot had to be dealt with by Ederson.
Just when they looked to have accepted their fate, Guardiola's charges did have the ball in the back of the net, only for Sane to be flagged for offside in the build-up to Jesus's back-post finish - a tight call and one that they will argue was incorrect.
In the end Liverpool, 18 points adrift of their opponents in the Premier League, rather comfortably saw things through to preserve their three-goal advantage.

Credits: SportsMole