Liverpool were thrashed 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City won yet another FA Cup quarterfinal in the early kickoff on Saturday. An Erling Haaland hattrick and a deft Antoine Semenyo finish saw City get the result their dominant performance probably deserved.
The opener came after Nico O’Reilly cleverly turned away from a lunge from Virgil Van Dijk to win a penalty in the 38th minute. Haaland duly converted, sending Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way. With almost the last touch of the second half, Haaland then made it two with a thumping header off a whipped Semenyo cross.
It was to become worse for Liverpool in the second half when Semenyo made it three with a deft little chip over Mamardashvili after being sent through by Cherki in the 50th minute. Seven minutes later, Haaland thumped one in off the crossbar to finish a glorious team move to complete his hat trick. In the process, he became the first Manchester City player to score a hat trick vs Liverpool in 89 years since Eric Brook’s hat trick at Anfield in March 1937.
Liverpool had their moments – most notably through Mohamed Salah – but failed to capitalise on any of their chances. The most glaring miss came when Salah saw his penalty saved by James Trafford after Matheus Nunes had brought down Hugo Ekitike in the City box with a rash challenge. Salah also missed two chances on counters – the kind he was all too often buried in his time at Liverpool – to mark a horror outing on his last FA Cup appearance with the side.
You can relive all the action right here on ESPN: