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Coach Guardiola and Klopp: Title chance for Liverpool passé
Photo: Jon Super/AP
The two top English clubs, Manchester City and Liverpool FC, reported back with a football spectacle after the World Cup break – Pep Guardiola was able to celebrate in the end.
The English champions beat Jürgen Klopp's Reds 3-2 (1-1) in the round of 16 of the League Cup on Thursday.
This means that another title chance has been eliminated for Liverpool, after the championship title is hardly possible with a deficit of 15 points to Arsenal.
Ex-Dortmunder Erling Haaland, who had missed the World Cup with Norway, scored in the tenth minute to give Manchester the lead.
Riyad Mahrez (47') and Nathan Ake (58') scored the other goals for the City team, with Germany international Ilkay Gündogan and former Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in the starting XI.
Fabio Carvalho (20') and Mohamed Salah (48') equalized twice for Liverpool.
If the League Cup was often neglected in the past, Guardiola and Klopp sent stars onto the field in the first competitive European game four days after the World Cup final.
In addition to Gündogan, City also used the Belgian World Cup participant Kevin De Bruyne.
Uruguay's Darwin Núñez came on in front for Liverpool and England midfielder Jordan Henderson came on as a substitute.
Haaland in particular, who had made an outstanding start to the season after moving from Dortmund to ManCity, was eager for the "restart" after the tough break.
For him it was the 24th goal in the 19th competitive game for his new club.
phw/dpa/sid