Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City: 4 key battles that decided the game

Pep Guardiola's dream of another treble was dealt a devastating blow, as Liverpool extended their dominance over their domestic leaders with a well-deserved 3-0 win at home on Wednesday night.

3 goals in the first half - yet another goal by Mohamed Salah, a screamer from Oxlade-Chamberlain and a pin-point header from Sadio Mane - followed by an uncharacteristic defensive masterclass in the second half by the Reds took the game well and truly beyond Manchester City's grasp and they have it all to do in the second leg next week.

As usual, there were a few individual battles that went a long way in deciding the outcome of the tie. Here's a look at 4 such battles that had a say on the eventual result of the game:

#1 Trent Alexander-Arnold vs Leroy Sane

Trent Alexander-Arnold put in one of his finest performances in a Liverpool shirt

A lot of eyebrows were raised at the inclusion of Trent Alexander-Arnold in the starting line-up, but the 19-year-old proved his manager right and his critics wrong with one of his finest performances in a Liverpool shirt.

The main concern for Alexander-Arnold was going to be pace - not that he is slow, but Leroy Sane is deceptively quick. But Sane's pace off the block was cleverly nullified by Alexander-Arnold's positioning and the German found it hard to find Gabriel Jesus with his crosses.

What resulted was Sane often opting to cut into the box himself and shoot, but once again, Alexander-Arnold's tight marking meant that his angles were not easy and he repeatedly found himself hitting the side netting.

Unlike Robertson's handling of Sterling during their 4-3 win against City in the league, this was not a matter of not letting the opponent have the ball, but instead, to neutralize what he could do when he had it.

Trent's adrenaline-rushing pump in added time to motivate his team was one of the sights of the game and Liverpool have in their hands a potential future leader who has shown himself capable of stepping into big shoes when called upon.

#2 Mohamed Salah vs Aymeric Laporte

Salah scored one and set up another - nothing unusual here — Salah scored one and set up another

In his current form, Mohamed Salah is a nightmare to play against for every defender in the world, and it didn't help that Manchester City's right back had a below-par game.

Despite leaving the field before the hour mark, Salah got his name on the scoresheet, scoring the opening goal, and then set up another with a teasing cross for Sadio Mane, all while dancing around Laporte on the right flank.

Laporte was clueless when it came to dealing with Salah - he had no idea whether to prevent him from coming inside or to stop him from moving on to the sideline but this was a characteristic of City's defense as a whole, barring the experienced Vincent Kompany.

Salah picked up an injury and hobbled off in the second half and the chances are that he would be rested for the PL game against Everton in order to get fit in time for the game at the Etihad.

#3 Sadio Mane vs Nicolas Otamendi

Sadio Mane toyed with Otamendi all through the game

Just like how Salah toyed with Laporte on the right, Mane ripped through Otamendi coming off the left side of Roberto Firmino.

With Robertson pressuring Kyle Walker on the left wing with his bombing runs forward, Mane moved more toward the centre and made life hard for the Argentine with able support from Salah and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Mane was also helped by Firmino's decoy runs into the box, dragging the defenders away from him and leaving him acres of space to get into the box.

It was painful to watch Otamendi try to defend against Mane's speedy dribbling skills - the Senegalese cut inside when the Argentine moved wide and dribbled past him when the defender moved inside to stop him.

Mane ended up beating Otamendi in the air too - an area the Manchester City defender is very good at - and surprisingly, it was the only aerial duel that he won on the night.

#4 Jurgen Klopp vs Pep Guardiola

Of course, in a big game like this, the manager's tactics are going to play a very big part - and it is safe to say that Jurgen Klopp won this battle hands down.

Guardiola's decision to not include Raheem Sterling in the starting-XI will come under huge scrutiny and rightly so - Gundogan just doesn't have the pace to trouble defences and Kevin De Bruyne is much more effective playing in the central midfield than further up front.

Another major concern for Guardiola is his inability to adapt - when plan A backfired against a 'gegenpressing' Liverpool, there was no plan B.

To be fair, it has worked well for them but against a team that is prone to attack, they should have set up differently - how Jose Mourinho's Manchester United nullified Liverpool a few weeks back is a testament to this approach.

Note: It is unfair to point out just 3 Liverpool players because every single one of them was exceptional in this game. Full credit to the manager and the team for one of the finest displays of attacking football in recent times.

Edited by Arvind Sriram