Liverpool player ratings vs Man City: Salah and Van Dijk among 4/10s | Football | Sport
Mohamed Salah as Manchester City celebrate in the background. (Image: Getty)
Manchester City booked a trip to Wembley thanks to a 4-0 rout of Liverpool at the Etihad, courtesey of an Erling Haaland hat-trick. He gave the hosts the lead from the penalty spot, after Virgil van Dijk fouled Nico O’Reilly inside the area, and sent stand-in goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way from 12 yards.
The Norwegian grabbed his and City’s second just before half-time when a well-worked move involving Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo saw the latter’s cross flicked into the back of the net by Haaland. The two midfielders combined again shortly after the restart and Semenyo dinked the ball over the goalkeeper to put the FA Cup quarter-final result beyond any doubt.
Haaland put the cherry on top when a free-flowing moved saw O’Reilly slip away from Joe Gomez and Haaland had the entire goal to aim at, completing his hat-trick before Mohamed Salah began his farewell tour with a missed penalty.
Here, Express Sport runs through our Liverpool player ratings from the quarter-final…
Liverpool player ratings (4-2-2-2)
Stepping in for the injured Alisson, a role he will assume at least for the next few matches. He created a chance for Salah on the 14th minute with a perfect long ball and his passing was pinpoint throughout. Beaten from the spot by Haaland and there was little he could do for any of the goals.
Did well up against Jeremy Doku and created a couple of chances with clever crosses initially but made a mess of a throw that led to City’s third goal and then let O’Reilly walk past him inside the penalty area, to set up a fourth goal.
Bit wayward with his passing and got beat by Haaland to the header for his second goal.
Clumsily gave away a penalty for bringing O’Reilly down, only moments after he should have shot when found in the box by Gomez, but decided to backheel rather than swing his left foot. Then let Haaland run free to complete his hat-trick on a miserable afternoon for the captain.
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Perhaps a bit fortunate not to have given away a penalty for tripping Cherki inside the penalty area, through VAR turned down City protests. Struggled to deal with the Frenchman and Semenyo combining down his flank.
Picked up an early yellow which hampered his ability to thwart City’s attacks. The home side were able to stroll through Liverpool once they grabbed the lead and Gravenberch offered little protection.
On several occasions in the first led the Liverpool press, which has received plenty of criticism this season, winning the ball back in City’s half to great effect. But went off the boil as City’s goals went in, though he was not alone in that regard.
Erling Haaland’s hat-trick decided this FA Cup quarter-final. (Image: Getty)
Struggled to stamp his authority on the match in his usual manner this season.
Liverpool’s brightest spark and their creator-in-chief, who benefited from a free role tremendously. A delight to watch in the first half and days like this make it clear why he was valued at £116million by Liverpool. Unfortunately for the German, his performance could not be backed up by the rest of the team before City assumed control.
Played as split strikers with Ekitike, which saw both forwards sit very wide while the midfield took up central areas. Salah had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock on the counter, but fluffed his lines when in on goal. He missed two more chances in the second half and his day was summed up with a penalty that was comfortably saved by Trafford.
His partnership with Wirtz is growing with every passing game and the two created some smart early opportunities. Ekitike made a couple of very slick touches, including one to completely bamboozle Rodri in the middle of the pitch and set Kerkez away. All that was missing today was a goal, which could have turned the tide had it arrived before Haaland’s opener. Smartly won a penalty for Salah but the Egyptian missed.
Jeremy Frimpong (62′) – 6
Potentially a pre-planned change, but Frimpong came on to give Gomez some respite, though couldn’t inspire any darting attacks down the right with Ngumoha.
Offered an injection of urgency down the right flank as Salah moved central.
A quiet cameo from the Dutchman.
Alexis Mac Allister (68′) – 7
Allowed Liverpool to wrestle back some control and possession but they were already 4-0 down by the time the Argentine stepped foot on the pitch.
Federico Chiesa (77′) – 6
On for Salah but was unable to make much of an impact.
