During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he was unable to play for over a month, but ‘goal machine’ Elling Hollan (Manchester City)’s sense of goal is not dead. Manchester City beat “rival” Liverpool and reached the quarter-finals of the 2022-2023 English League Cup (Carabao Cup).
Manchester City won 3-2 in their Round of 16 match against Liverpool played at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England on the 23rd. League Cup winners Liverpool in the 2021-2022 season were frustrated by their second consecutive defeat.
The two teams, which played their first official match after the World Cup in Qatar, fielded starters with players from countries that did not participate in the World Cup or were eliminated early. Man City started with Haaland (Norway) and Riyad Mahrez (France), who did not participate in the World Cup, as well as Kevin Debrawiner (Belgium), Ilkay Gundogan (Germany) and Rodri (Spain), who were eliminated in advance from the World Cup
Liverpool also started Muhammad Salah (Egypt), Thiago Alcantara (Italy), Joel Matip (England), who did not participate in the World Cup, and Darwin Nunez (Uruguay), who joined the squad immediately after being eliminated in the group stage.
The first goal came from Hollan’s left foot. Ten minutes into the match, De Bruyne’s cross from the left wing was flooded in by Haaland and volleyed into the Liverpool goal. Hollan, who scored 23 goals and 3 assists in 18 matches, including 18 goals and 3 assists in the English Premier League (EPL) and 5 goals in the UEFA Champions League, before the World Cup break, failed to qualify for the World Cup in the first official match just after the World Cup, I made a joke about it. Haaland’s home country of Norway did not participate in the World Cup as they finished third in Group G of the European Qualifiers.
Afterwards, a goal battle ensued between the two teams. Liverpool turned the game around in the 20th minute when Fabio Carvalho scored. In the 2nd minute of the second half when the score was narrow at 1-1, Man City took the lead again with Mahrez’s goal, but Liverpool followed up to make it 2-2 with Salach’s goal 1 minute later.
In the 13th minute of the second half, Manchester City defender Nathan Ake scored a goal and leaned towards Manchester City. Ake scored the winning goal with a header from De Bruyne’s cross. De Bruyne, who lived through the pain of being knocked out of the group stage at the World Cup in Qatar, eased his disappointment by registering two assists that day.
Manchester City manager Pepe Guardiola said after the match: “De Bruyne is a player who sometimes has to find a spark within himself and lose his temper. On days like today, when you find that spark, you become a great player. De Bruyne will forever be remembered as Manchester City’s greatest player.”
The quarter-finals of the League Cup were Manchester United-Charlton, Southampton-Man City, Nottingham-Wolverhampton, Newcastle-Leicester City. The quarterfinals will be held around the 10th of the following month.
Reporter Kim Bae-joong Wanted@donga.com
