Haaland scores his first ever Anfield goal for the win

The last time Erling Haaland scored from open play was back in December 2025, and it continued in a big derby match against Liverpool, where he scored from a penalty, but the Norwegian won’t mind. He finally scored at Anfield for the first time in his career, and the most satisfying thing about it was that it was in injury time and for a win: Liverpool – Manchester City 1-2. This is a big and important victory for the Citizens who were second best for most of the game but eventually found a way to come from behind and score two goals for a win. The title is still far away, but it’s not impossible. Arsenal are now just six points away.

This was a crazy game with a crazy tempo and crazy misses from the home side and it ended in a crazy result, as the guests showed almost nothing and came up with a victory in just nine minutes. Liverpool had two penalty shouts in the game but didn’t get them (and it was a correct decision) while City got one in injury time, which brought them the victory. Allison tripped Nunes in the penalty area, and Haaland had to soak up the pressure. He was cold as ice and not only scored at Anfield but also got the win. And the game didn’t finish there but lasted for another 15 minutes, where we saw a winning goal, one super chance and a VAR intervention which resulted in a red card for Szoboszlai and a denied goal for City.

And while Haaland ended up being the hero, Hugo Ekitike surely ended up as a tragic hero. The Frenchman has scored or assisted every 112 minutes in the Premier League this season (10 goals, 2 assists in 1,342 minutes), the best ratio by a Liverpool player in their first season at the club since Mohamed Salah in 2017-18 (32 goals, 10 assists – one every 70 minutes). But today, he missed several excellent opportunities while the score was still 0-0. His goals would surely change the outcome of the game completely as Liverpool didn’t deserve to lose but now we’ll never know. Due to a number of injuries, Liverpool made just two substitutes (the first one in the 85th minute) while City had a number of excellent players who came in and made the difference.

In this thrilling game, the worst part was actually the first half. Apart from Haaland’s opportunity in the first two minutes of the game, we saw a little. Both sets of players ran like hell, but cancelled each other in the process, and most of the opportunities were denied due to offside. Haaland should have scored at the beginning, but Allison was on spot to save the ball. Citizens were a better team while Liverpool created half-chances after some mistakes in Manchester’s defence.

City players were under siege in the second half. In the first 10 minutes, Liverpool had three excellent chances and Ekitike participated in all of them. First the Frenchman had a shot which whistled near the right post, then he passed the ball to Gakpo who missed it and then Ekitike had the best chance in the game, but his header, after a fantastic outside-of-the-boot cross from Salah went just near the bar. Ekitike continued his good performance and assisted to Wirtz, but his shot was blocked by Guehi. And then, when everybody expected City to score and punish all Liverpool misses, the hosts scored the leading goal. It was another sensational free-kick goal from Dominik Szoboszlai. This one was even better than the one against Arsenal, an absolute bomb from almost 25 meters, but Donnarumma should have at least tried to go after the ball. Instead, the Italian only stood and watched. And then the Citizens, who only had one shot on goal in the second half, equalised from their only chance in the second half. Cherki’s cross was met by Haaland and he put the ball down for Bernardo Silva, who took a shot from close range and it was 1-1 just like that. And then the shock in injury time – a penalty for the guests. Haaland took the ball with confidence and gave his teammates a sudden lead which Donnarumma confirmed with a brilliant save in the 97th minute, after a McAllister shot. The game ended with a VAR decision as Haaland scored the third goal, but after a scuffle with Szoboszlai. The Hungarian midfielder fouled the Norwegian striker, who stayed on his feet, and then fouled the Liverpool player back before scoring. But VAR intervened and decided it's not a goal but a foul by Szoboszlai, who ended up being red-carded as he made a foul as the last man. Crazy end of a crazy game.

PREMIER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 25

Friday

Leeds - Nottingham Forest 3-1 (2-0)

/Bogle 26, Okafor 30, Calvert-Lewin 49 - Lucca 86/

Saturday

Man.Utd. - Tottenham 2-0 (1-0)

/Mbeumo 38, Fernandes 80/

Arsenal - Sunderland 3-0 (1-0)

/Zubimendi 42, Gyokeres 66, 90+3/

Bournemouth - Aston Villa 1-1 (0-1)

/Rayan 55 - Rogers 22/

Burnley - West Ham 0-2 (0-2)

/Summerville 13, Castellanos 26/

Fulham - Everton 1-2 (1-0)

/Mykolenko 18 og - Dewsbury-Hall 75, Leno 83 og/

Wolverhampton - Chelsea 1-3 (0-3)

/Arokodare 54 - Palmer 13 pen, 35 pen, 38/

Newcastle - Brentford 2-3 (1-2)

/Botman 24, Guimaraes 79 pen - Janelt 37, Thiago 45+2 pen, Outtara 85/

Sunday

Brighton - Crystal Palace 0-1 (0-0)

/Sarr 61/

Liverpool - Man.City 1-2 (0-0)

/Szoboszlai 74 - Silva 84, Haaland 90+3(p)