Manchester City 1 Liverpool 2: Mohamed Salah sends Reds into Champions League semi-finals as Pep Guardiola sees red

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Vaishali Bhardwaj11 April 2018

Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored to help dump Manchester City out of the Champions League as Liverpool came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.

Jurgen Klopp's side had come into the quarter-final second-leg clash leading the tie 3-0, but were left stunned when Gabriel Jesus netted in only the second minute.

City were by far the better of the two sides in the first half but, after Leroy Sane's goal was disallowed for offside and Pep Guardiola was then sent to the stands, Liverpool scored twice in the second half to secure a stunning 5-1 aggregate score-line that sends them into the semi-finals for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.

Klopp was boosted ahead of the game by the return of Salah from a groin injury after the Egyptian missed the Merseyside derby at the weekend due to a groin issue he felt in the second half of the 3-0 win over City a week ago.

Yet, Salah barely had any time on the ball in the opening stages at the Etihad as the hosts left the visitors stunned when they took the lead in just the second minute.

Raheem Sterling, who did not start the first leg at Anfield, played a major role in the opener after forcing Virgil van Dijk into conceding possession near the touchline, which ended in the City winger picking the ball back up again, squaring to Jesus who coolly drove it past Loris Karius.

REUTERS

The goal was an early reward for how attacking Guardiola's side had been set up to be in the clash, with Liverpool being forced to defend time and time again.

While Sterling and Leroy Sane were particularly dangerous for the hosts, Bernardo Silva also proved one of City's most biggest threats as the 23-year-old saw a curling effort from the right fly just wide of the far post before he hit the post with his long-range effort five minutes before the break.

AP

City also had two penalty appeals turned down within the space of just a minute - both incidents involving Andy Robertson and Sterling although replays showed the referee was right not to award the spot-kicks.

In a first half that saw five yellow cards branded, it ended with City thinking they had scored another goal - only for Sane's effort to be ruled out for offside.

Guardiola reacted angrily to the decision once the half-time whistle was blown - with the City coach running onto the pitch and letting his feelings be known to referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz.

But Guardiola's wild protestations backfired after it resulted in the City boss being sent to the stands for the second half.

With Guardiola unable to lead his team's fight-back from the touchline, Liverpool set about trying to score a crucial away goal - which they did in the 56th minute through their star man of the season, Salah.

The Egyptian latched onto a through-ball and passed to Mane, who was then sent tumbling down in the area but won no penalty. Yet it didn't matter as Salah won back possession and drove past Ederson to net his 39th goal in all competitions this season.

REUTERS

Liverpool were now leading the tie 4-1 on aggregate and, with the Reds firmly in control, they went on to score another through Firmino in the 77th minute.

The goal came from a mistake from Nicolas Otamendi who allowed the Brazilian to win the ball back just outside the box, before Firmino coolly drove a low shot past Ederson to extinguish City's hopes and send Liverpool through to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in a decade.

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