Manchester City vs Liverpool: 3 takeaways from the match

Manchester City beat Liverpool 5-4 on penalties yesterday at the Wembley stadium to clinch their second successive Community Shield trophy. City have now not lost any match against Liverpool since their resounding defeat in the UEFA Champions League semifinal in 2018.

Liverpool, on the other hand, would consider themselves a tad unlucky to lose the match, as they were probably the better team over the course of the 90 minutes. City scored first in the first half through Raheem Sterling. However, the Reds fought back well in the second half, and equalized through Joel Matip in the 77th minute.

Giorgino Wijnaldaum missed his penalty kick in the shootout, while everyone else scored from theirs. Claudio Bravo, the City goalkeeper was one of the better players of the match and made some spectacular saves in the second half to keep City in the game.

Let us now take a look at the top 3 takeaways from the match:

#3 City had a better first half and succeeded in scoring too

City started to dominate the proceedings from the beginning with their swift and slick passing game. Their midfielders, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne kept troubling the Liverpool defence in the first half and the Liverpool defenders had a tough time dealing with them.

The Sky Blues adopted a 4-3-3 formation with both Silva and De Bruyne starting in midfield. De Bruyne was dangerous for Liverpool because of his movements in the final third, whereas Silva’s passes kept making inroads into the Reds’ defence.

Bernardo Silva also enjoyed a decent first half and Sterling remained his usual dependable self. The latter scored the opening goal in the 12th minute of the match and on the back of their performance in the opening 45 minutes, it looked likely that City would increase their lead in the second half.

While the Sky Blues deserve credit for imposing themselves on the game, the Reds were a little too defensive and allowed the former to get into their stride.