United News of Bangladesh

Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola’s 1000th match as a manager with a commanding 3-0 win over defending champions Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. With the victory, the Citizens moved up to second in the Premier League table, closing the gap with leaders Arsenal to four points. Liverpool came into the with a midweek Champions League victory against Real Madrid, but lost rhythm immediately after kick-off. Aside from an early penalty save, Arne Slot’s men struggled to create anything meaningful, while City stretched the lead through Erling Haaland, Nico González and Jérémy Doku. City earned a penalty in the 9th minute when Doku weaved past two defenders and went down after contact with goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. Following a VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot, but Mamardashvili dived to his left to deny Haaland. With Mamardashvili’s save, City have now failed to score from four of their last five penalties against Liverpool. In contrast, no goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues has saved more penalties than the Georgian shot-stopper (6) since the start of the 2023-24 season. The miss did not keep City waiting long. In the 29th minute, Matheus Nunes whipped in a cross from the right and Haaland headed in to break the deadlock. The 25-year-old Norwegian, the league’s top scorer, has now netted 14 goals in 11 Premier League matches, and 28 in 18 games across all competitions for club and country this season. His league tally now stands at 99 goals in 108 matches.