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77 min: Liverpool substitution Federico Chiesa replaces a woebegone Mo Salah.
77 min: City substitution Omar Marmoush replaces the hat-trick hero Erling Haaland. His second goal was a beauty, both the creation and the finish.
76 min Mac Allister whistles a long-range shot that swirls and forces Trafford to change direction before saving low to his left.
74 min Haaland plays a promising through pass towards Reijnders, who is outpaced by the last man Konate. Good defendi ng.
73 min Cherki swapped shirts with Ekitike, who was also subbed, and was in the process of putting it on when somebody apparently had a word over his shoulder. I didn’t realise Roy Keane was part of the City backroom team.
71 min: Man City substitutions Phil Foden and Tiijani Reijnders come on for Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki. I suspect both teams would take the final whistle now, certainly Liverpool.
68 min: Liverpool substitutions Alexis Mac Allister, Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo come on for Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. All eyes are on on Paris on Wednesday now.
67 min Bernardo Silva is booked for something or other.
65 min Kerkez is booked for something or other. I didn’t give Trafford enough credit for that penalty save – it wasn’t the greatest penalty, sure, but that’s a huge moment for a young goalkeeper.
Trafford saves Salah's penalty!
64 min You could barely make it up. Salah takes a deep breath, runs round the ball and smashes a trademark penalty low to the right. Trafford dives the right way, to his left, and pushes it away. It was nowhere near the corner.
63 min: Penalty to Liverpool
Nunes trips Ekitike and Liverpool have a penalty.
62 min: Liverpool substitution Jeremie Frimpong replaces Joe Gomez.
62 min: Double substitution for City Nico Gonzalez and Savinho replace Jeremy Doku and Rodri.
60 min One of the biggest cheers of the day comes when Cherki is forced to the byline by Szoboszlai but gets out of trouble with a nonchalant pass round the corner. He’s so much fun to watch.
It’s another lovely team goal from City. Doku released the underlapping O’Reilly on the left side of the area; he could have shot himself but looked up and gave the goal to Haaland.
Either side of half-time, City have been sensational.
GOAL! Man City 4-0 Liverpool (Haaland 57)
Erling Haaland scores his 12th Manchester City hat-trick!
56 min Gravenberch plays another good pass to find Salah in space on the right side of the area. He takes the shot first-time but curls high and wide of the far post. At his best, Salah’s finishes were so relaxed but that hasn’t the case today. Right now, he probably wants it too much.
55 min It’s worth reiterating that there was nothing between the teams for the first 35 minutes. But the last 20 have been horrible for Liverpool, and maybe a little ominous for Arsenal. City look as good as they have at any stage this season.
54 min Semenyo tries to score from inside his own half! It was a really good effort that landed on the roof of the net with Mamardashvili backpedalling urgently. He had it covered but it was a fine try from Semenyo.
52 min Cherki strolls disdainfully past Kerkez, turns back inside and plays another brilliant through pass to Semenyo. This time Semenyo’s touch is poor and the danger passes.
Cherki is playing delightfully – a maverick who is dominating rather than decorating the game.
52 min: Chance for Salah Gravenberch angles a terrific through pass to Salah, who flicks a shot across goal with the outside of the right foot. Trafford gets done very smartly to his right to push it away.
O’Reilly plays a simple pass infield to Cherki, 25 yards from goal. He turns and guides a lovely through pass, perfectly in sync with Semenyo’s run behind Van Dijk. Semenyo finishes with aplomb, teasing a majestic finish around Mamardashvili with his left foot. That’s another delightful goal.
GOAL! Man City 3-0 Liverpool (Semenyo 50)
All over at the Etihad.
50 min “For all Klopp’s bluster it’s clear he largely created a spirit of believing that all things are possible,” writes Niall Mullen. “Slot’s side seem to constantly expect the worst to happen and then feel sorry for themselves when it does. Like Sideshow Bob but if he laid out all the rakes himself.”
Didn’t they come from behind quite a lot last season? From afar they look like a textbook case of a decent team whose confidence is really fragile.
49 min City pass the clock down for 60 seconds or so. There might be a lot of that in this half, and that’s not a criticism.
47 min “I was planning on putting a couple of shelves up after this match,” says Matt Dony. “Maybe I’ll just get on with that now…”
You’re a disgrace to Istanbul.
46 min City get the second half under way.
Half-time reading
Half-time: Man City 2-0 Liverpool
It was an even game for 35 minutes, but then Virgil van Dijk tripped Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland scored the first of his two goals from the spot. It’s a long way back for Liverpool from here.
Cherki, on the right, played a perfectly weighted pass to the underlapping Semenyo. He clipped an excellent first-time cross to the near post, where Haaland got across Konate and guided an expert header into the far corner. That’s a lovely goal.
GOAL! Man City 2-0 Liverpool (Haaland 45+2)
A brilliant second goal, and a hammer blow on the stroke of half-time!
43 min Liverpool need half-time. They’ve played well for the most part but it’s been all City since the goal.
40 min Oh to have a difficult season like Erling Haaland: that’s his 31st goal for City in all competitions.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Liverpool (Haaland 39 pen)
Haaland sends Mamardashvili the wrong way and boots the corner flag in celebration.
