With fourteen minutes left of this thoroughly ruthless dismantling of Liverpool by Manchester City, two great forwards left the field.
One of them, Erling Haaland of Manchester City, had a hat-trick to his name and can see opportunity beckoning, in the FA Cup and maybe even the Premier League.
For the other, Mo Salah of Liverpool, a fabulous journey into Anfield legend and folklore is coming to an end wrapped up in humiliation and embarrassment. As such it is thoroughly painful to witness.
Liverpool were competitive for half an hour at the Etihad Stadium but just dreadful thereafter. Weak and feckless in body and mind, they were Easter lambs dressed in red.
If manager Arne Slot survives the wreckage of this catastrophic season, it will be some surprise.
Salah – closely followed by his captain Virgil van Dijk – was just about the worst of Slot’s dismal players, though there were other candidates. With only the Champions League left to fight for – Liverpool are at PSG on Tuesday – his farewell lap of English football is threatening to turn into a funeral march.
Mohamed Salah’s farewell lap at Liverpool is threatening to turn into something much darker
In the afternoon’s tale of two forwards, Erling Haaland was at his peerless best at the Etihad
It will be interesting to see if Salah plays in Paris. On this evidence, he doesn’t deserve to. Early on, he turned a one-on-one with City goalkeeper James Trafford into a throw-in for the home team on the far side. In the second half, with the game gone, he lifted another clear chance into the top tier. Then, worst of all, came a penalty that, somehow, we just knew he would miss. He did, Trafford saving.
By the time he was hauled off by the manager with whom he has not seen eye to eye, it felt like a mercy killing.
City were everything that Liverpool were not here. A team on the move just when it matters. Their opponents merely melted, though.
As soon as City found their way into the game through Haaland’s 37th minute penalty, Liverpool lost all stomach, all fight and all organisation. Sadly that reflects dreadfully on their manager.
Two down by half-time, it was four by the hour. Humiliation beckoned and before long they were being lampooned by fans of a club who have grown used to viewing them as their great modern rival.
And it was all rather startling as Liverpool had actually been the better team for a while. They moved the ball nicely through midfield early on, creating angles and the occasional overload with their passing and their movement.
Crucially, though, the actual threat they carried was minimal. That was a significant difference between the teams. City may not have dominated the ball or the territory like they often do here, but they injected speed and urgency into their football at the right moments and when they did Liverpool simply couldn’t cope.
Salah’s first big moment of many arrived in just the fifteenth minute. He was inside his own half when he started the run that invited a clearance over the top from Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and once he had rid himself of the attentions of Abdukodir Khusanov, he only had Trafford to beat in the City goal.
If manager Arne Slot survives this catastrophic season to manage a third term it will be a shock
The Egyptian superstar’s penalty attempt was struck straight to the gloves of James Trafford
But as well as losing form and maybe half a yard of pace this season, Salah has also felt his confidence drain away. Maybe that part of the whole story has been underplayed. The greatest players can suffer self-doubt like all the rest.
Here, Salah never really looked like taking the chance and he screwed his left foot shot so badly across goal that the ball actually went out for a throw-in. Two minutes later, he was in possession again and this time had the chance to front up Marc Guehi. He looked to get past him but this time could only run the ball over the byline.
It was all rather sad to witness and Salah’s struggles were placed in context almost immediately when Haaland drove hard into the Liverpool half down the left, bumped off two defenders and set in motion a passage of play that led to Rayan Cherki falling over a Milos Kerkez challenge in the penalty area.
No penalty was given but it could have been. Next time Liverpool were not to be so fortunate.
Liverpool had another big chance before City enjoyed their golden ten minutes at the end of the first half. This time Salah was more productive but when his cross was laid back by Curtis Jones, Hugo Ekitike could not keep his shot on target when really he should have done. These are the moments that matter on days like this and too often this season Liverpool have been on the wrong side of them. Coincidence and bad luck? It’s something deeper and fundamental for sure.
For a while it was a really good game and Liverpool were right in it. The problem was that at the first sign of trouble – namely City’s first goal – they collapsed. At half-time, Slot motioned to his players to keep their chins up but by that stage he may as well have tried catching smoke in a jar.
City were quite ruthless, it must be said. Once they got their noses in front, they sniffed weakness in their opponent and moved through their gears to kill the game. From that point of view, it was reminiscent of the way they finished off Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final a fortnight ago.
The penalty that gave City their opening goal was clear. They moved the ball in from the right and when Nico O’Reilly – excellent throughout – went to shield it from Van Dijk, the Liverpool captain brought him down. Haaland’s penalty, low to Mamardashvili’s left, was perfectly struck.
Virgil van Dijk was another Liverpool living legend who endured an afternoon to forget
With six or seven minutes left before half-time, Liverpool needed to reset and hang on but they couldn’t. Too little confidence, too little intelligence, too little effort.
The second City goal was the killer and a horror show from Liverpool. It started with their own throw-in by the left-back position but when the ball was coughed up they swung open like an old barn door. Florian Wirtz didn’t track Antoine Semenyo as he ran to the line, Van Dijk’s attempts to get across and block were lamentable and when Haaland moved across Ibrahima Konate to head in the cross there was only one person who was really in that duel.
At half-time, there was some social media chat about great comebacks of our time. It was extinguished within five minutes of the restart. Liverpool gave the ball away at their own throw-in again – Joe Gomez the culprit – and as Semenyo ran off Van Dijk’s shoulder on to Cherki’s pass he was able to lift the ball into the goal over the goalkeeper.
Three became four before the hour as Haaland rammed his hat-trick in off the bar. His had been a display of ruthless goalscoring. Salah, meanwhile, could only continue his own journey down the road to some kind of personal hell.
One good chance was ballooned high and wide and then another – a penalty after Matheus Nunes fouled Ekitike – was struck weakly and saved comfortably by Trafford. It was painful to see a great player suffer like this and when Slot made a raft of substitutions soon after, we presumed Salah’s number would be called. Strangely, it wasn’t. And so his own discomfort was allowed to endure. Finally, with fourteen minutes left, he made way for Federico Chiesa. When will we see him again?
If it’s in Paris on Tuesday that will say much for Liverpool’s lack of alternatives.
