James Milner: Liverpool 'woke up' after early Manchester City goal

Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj10 April 2018

James Milner believes Manchester City's early goal against Liverpool galvanised the Reds and helped wake the team up at the Etihad Stadium.

Jurgen Klopp's side arrived to their Champions League quarter-final second-leg clash on Tuesday leading the tie 3-0, but were left stunned when Gabriel Jesus scored for the hosts in just the second minute.

City went on to dominate the first half but, after Leroy Sane saw a goal disallowed for offside and Pep Guardiola was subsequently sent to the stands for protesting against the decision, Liverpool scored twice in the second half to secure a 2-1 (5-1 aggregate) win that sends them into the semi-finals for the first time in a decade.

Milner admits Jesus' goal shocked the visitors, but believes Liverpool's attitude in the second half shows why they deserved to progress to the next round of the Champions League.

In Pictures | Champions League quarter-finals second leg | 2017-18

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"They’re a good team and they were always going to put us under pressure," Milner told BT Sport after the victory.

"They had chances but that shows a lot about how we came out in the second half.

"Maybe it woke us up to concede that early, it says a lot about the boys coming under that pressure in first half and in the second half last week.

"In the second half today we got hold of it slightly more but we still have to improve.

"Everyone knows how good Manchester City are so to beat them is a good confidence builder but we have to be better in the next round.

"We got about them a bit more in the second half, kept ball slightly better, were more composed that’s the key, it’s what you have to do against these sorts of teams."

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