Man City beats Liverpool 3-2 in League Cup Football

Even though Erling Haaland scored his 24th goal of the year on Thursday in the English League Cup against Liverpool, Nathan Ake's debut goal was the difference in Manchester City's 3-2 victory. Both goals were assisted by Kevin De Bruyne, one of six City starting fresh off World Cup duty, and Riyad Mahrez scored shortly after halftime to advance City to the quarterfinals. In the 10th and 58th minutes at the Etihad Stadium, respectively, De Bruyne, a member of the Belgium team that was eliminated from the group stage in Qatar, crossed to Haaland to open the scoring.

Haaland initially displayed indications of fatigue by shooting over the crossbar, but the Norwegian quickly made up for it with a volley in the 10th minute, giving him a total of two goals in 19 games. After receiving a ball from James Milner, who exited the game due to injury before halftime, an unmarked Carvalho tied the score at 1-1 in the 20th minute. Early in the second half, the sides exchanged goals. Prior to Nunez setting up Salah for the equalizer, Mahrez scored on a left-footed shot.

After suffering what manager Jurgen Klopp characterized as a minor injury in practice earlier this week, Roberto Firmino was unable to play for Liverpool. To advance to the semifinals, City must defeat Southampton the following month. Third-division Charlton will play Manchester United, Wolverhampton will play Nottingham Forest, and Leicester will play Newcastle in the remaining quarterfinal matches. When Liverpool travels to Aston Villa on Monday, the Premier League will restart. Leeds hosts City on Wednesday.