Hot on the heels of their Premier League encounter, which for the second time this season ended in a stalemate, Manchester City and Liverpool went head to head once more, only this time it was at Wembley in the FA Cup semi final and there had to be a winner. Just had to be the next instalment in our ‘Framed’ series…
Battling on three fronts, Manchester City and Liverpool are absolutely going at it this season. But while there has been nothing to separate them in their two league encounters this season – both enthralling encounters that have ended 2-2 – there had to be a winner when they faced up in the semi final of the FA Cup this weekend, which just so happened to be at Wembley Stadium. Games don’t get much bigger than this.
Coming off the back of a tough two leg clash with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, Manchester City rung the changes for the match, most notably with Ederson dropping to the bench, making way for the USMNT no.1, Zack Steffen. Liverpool on the other hand had done most of the hard work in the first leg of their UCL quarter final with Benfica, and so were able to rest several key players, who all returned for this crunch clash. The second time in under a week that he sides would meet, and it was all to play for. The sun was shining, the crowd was rocking.
While there had to be a winner, there logically also had to be a loser, and on this occasion City fell just short. Liverpool absolutely dominated the first half, and a costly mistake by Steffen, plus some sublime play from the Reds, saw a 3-0 deficit at halftime. It was a mountain that was too high to climb, despite a valiant effort from City in the second half. For Liverpool it was a case of job done, with the quadruple dream remaining very much alive. Only Villareal and Real Madrid standing in the way of a tantalising rematch.
Photography by Duncan Elliott for SoccerBible.
Check out more of Duncan's impressive work centred around the FA Cup here.