Grand return of club football - Haaland feels alive again, Liverpool crash out of the EFL Cup

Not even a week has passed since the final match of the World Cup in Qatar, and we have already watched a great derby of English football. Not quite as exciting as the meeting between Argentina and France in the battle for the 'golden globe', but certainly excellent.

In the round of 16 of the League Cup, Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-2 (1-1). Goals and chances galore, 25 shots were fired, and the home team showed more focus. With their victory, they joined Manchester United, Wolverhampton, Southampton, Newcastle, Leicester, Nottingham Forest and Charlton.

Great Rashford bad for Kompany: Man Utd annihilate Burnley to reach the League Cup quarter-finals

Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp could not count on the strongest squads, but despite that, some of the best players of the two teams were on the field. Haaland and Mahrez led the Citizens' attack, Salah and Nunez the Reds. De Bruyne and Rodri did not live up to expectations in Qatar with their Belgium and Spain national teams, but they were excellent tonight. Laporte and Ake came to City's defense from the World Cup, and on the other side, only Darwin Nunez played at the planetary tournament and was at this match from the start, while Fabinho and Henderson came from the bench.

The guests were also unlucky that James Milner, who played right back tonight, got injured at the end of the first half. He was replaced by Nathaniel Phillips and it was he who misjudged the flight of the ball in the 58th minute when Ake sneaked up behind him took advantage of De Bruyne's cross for 3-2.

Ahead of that, City had taken the lead twice, with goals from Erling Haaland in the 10th minute and Riyad Mahrez in the 47th minute, but the guests managed to quickly equalize. The scoreboard showed 1-1 after Fabio Carvalho scored in the 20th minute, and it was 2-2 with Mohamed Salah's goal just a minute after Mahrez's goal.

It was hinted that we will watch a great match right from the start. Both teams entered the game with intensity and in just two minutes we saw a chance on each side. First, Haaland shot over the goal, then Laporte managed to block Nunez's shot. It was the first of three great opportunities that the Uruguayan had tonight, and he didn't take advantage of them. He was in the game until the end of the match, but after a miss shortly after Cityzens' third goal, he no longer threatened Stefan Ortega.

Only after his players took the lead for the third time did Guardiola start making changes. He introduced Stones, Grealish, Foden, and Bernardo Silva, who managed to bring the match to an end without drama. Unlike his colleague, Klopp reacted earlier. Already at the start of the second half, Fabinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Stefan Bajčetić and Fabio Carvalho, then Henderson entered instead of Elliott, and Keita instead of Alcantara, but without effect.

Liverpool will return to Premier League duties in four days, on Monday against Aston Villa away, then on December 30 they welcome Leicester, and they open the year 2023 on January 2 against Brentford away.

City have a visit to Leeds next, then on the 31st a game against Everton, while on January 5th at Stamford Bridge they a huge clash against Chelsea.

LEAGUE CUP

Round of 16

Tuesday

Wolverhampton - Gillingham 2-0 (1-0)

/Jimenez 77 pen, Ait Nouri 90+2/

Milton Keynes Dons - Leicester 0-3 (0-2)

/Tielemans 18, Perez 28, Vardy 50/

Newcastle - Bournemouth 1-0 (0-0)

/Smith 67 og/

Southampton - Lincoln City 2-1 (1-1)

/Che Adams 25, 74 - Bazunu 2 og/

Wednesday

Manchester United - Burnley 2-0 (1-0)

/Eriksen 27, Rashford 57/

Charlton - Brighton 4-3 after penalties (0-0)

Blackburn Rovers - Nottingham Forest 1-4 (1-1)

/Wharton 44 - Johnson 13 pen, 90+2, Lingard 53, Awoniyi 79/

Thursday

Man.City - Liverpool 3-2 (1-1)

/Haaland 10, Mahrez 47, Ake 59 - Carvalho 20, Salah 48/