Liverpool 0-3 Manchester City: Ten-Man Reds Punished at Anfield

Liverpool played Manchester City in a titanic clash between two of Europe's best teams, and it is a game usually full of drama, goals and controversy.

Could Andoni Iraola win his first game against a big 6 side in the league since becoming Reds boss, or would his side fail to meet the demands of the Anfield faithful?

LFC made three changes from their last game before the extended international break, all of them enforced due to injuries.

Attacking duo Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak were the big injury blows before this game, as both picked up an ankle and thigh injury, respectively. 

While Iraola confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the pair were out of this game against Man City, the Spanish coach refused to put an exact timeframe on when fans could expect to see the club's most in-form forwards return. 

An injury that was less expected was to Dominik Szoboszlai, who was absent from the clash with last season's Premier League runner-up due to a hamstring problem.

Andoni Iroala confirmed it's just muscle tightness, and he was kept out of the game due to 'not being 100% ready'.

Ryan Gravenberch, Victor Munoz and Lewis Koumas were the three players to enter the starting XI for this game, with the latter of those, Koumas, being given a huge opportunity to show everyone why Andoni Iraola has so much confidence and belief in him.

Liverpool Starting XI:

A hostile atmosphere arrived as expected from the moment the teams walked out, only heightened by a crunching tackle from Araujo inside the first three minutes of the game, truly trying to set the tempo.

10 minutes in, a small brawl ensued after Ruben Dias hauled Lewis Koumas to the ground, with referee Chris Kavanagh having a word with both captains.

But the intensity that the Reds were playing with at the start of this game was exactly what fans would have wanted to see. 

As the half progressed, it was clear that Manchester City were trying to calm down the on- and off-the-pitch intensity.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were attempting the complete opposite, resulting in neither team really threatening each other's goals for the first 25 minutes.

The first big chance would fall to the home side as a quick counter from back to front led to Victor Munoz playing a one-two with Florian Wirtz.

Munoz then beat O'Reilly with electric pace, but the City defender dangled a foot out and blocked the Spanish winger's shot from going on target. 

The Citizens would then respond with a chance of their own, with a shot from outside the box by Enzo Fernandez needing the safe hands of Alisson Becker to dive low down to his right-hand side to deal with the danger.

As the first half drew to a close, it was Man City who were in the ascendancy, with Ronald Araujo struggling to deal with the combination play between Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo.

The first half would end still scoreless, with the Reds looking the better side for most of the 45 minutes. 

No changes made by either side at half time, as both head coaches looked to find a breakthrough in the game. 

Liverpool would come flying out of the traps, Lewis Koumas slipped through onto goal, and he fired a powerful strike towards Donnarumma, who was forced into a brilliant save. 

Gravenberch then followed this with a shot from distance himself, that was again saved, before the rebound by Mac Allister was just wide of the post. 

The chances would continue for LFC as Wirtz had the ball on the edge of the box, but instead of passing to Kerkez, who was in space, he took the shot on himself that was wildly wide, much to the Hungarian's frustration. 

Erling Haaland would then have his first real chance in this encounter, slipped through by Semenyo, but the Norwegian put it just wide of the post.

Then a big flashpoint in the game was a second yellow card for Ryan Gravenberch, who had been having a brilliant game up until that point, but a weak challenge on Doku led to Chris Kavanagh showing the second yellow card, and Andoni Iraola's side were down to 10 men for the last 30 minutes or so. 

It would get worse for Liverpool just minutes later as Erling Haaland hammered in a ruthless finish into the back of the net, after a Jeremy Doku cross took a deflection that landed to the City number nine, who did what he does best, and City were 1-0 up.

In the space of a few minutes, the Merseyside club were a man down and a goal down, with a change in Wirtz coming off and Trey Nyoni coming on in the middle of the pitch.

It would go from really bad to catastrophic for Liverpool as Doku would double the Citizens' lead, with a curling strike from the left-hand side of the penalty area, looping over a helpless Alisson, 2-0 to the away side.

Two more changes would shortly follow this, with Rio Ngumoha and Jeremie Frimpong being introduced for Bradley Barcola and Ronald Araujo. 

Man City would continue to make their man advantage count as they would make it 3-0 after a one-two between Cherki and Gvardiol, before the French winger sat Frimpong down and rolled the ball under a diving Alisson. 

Iraola then made a late double change, with Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa coming on, but they would have no impact, and the game would finish 3-0 to Manchester City with the home fans leaving Anfield bitterly disappointed.