Manchester City defeated Liverpool and won the Community Shield this Sunday at Wembley. Regular 90 minutes ended with a draw, 1-1, but the Premier League champions kept their composure during the penalty shootout and took the first trophy of the season.
City opened the match furiously, and Raheem Sterling scored after just 12 minutes of play, beating Alisson from the edge of the six-yard box. But that was just the beginning because the champs had several more opportunities to net, missing all of them. The first half didn’t see much from Liverpool, who was inferior on the pitch.
The same applied to the opening 15 minutes of the second part of the match. Sterling had one more chance, going one-on-one with Alisson but he couldn’t execute it. Two minutes before that, David Silva had his opportunity and missed it too.
That probably woke up Liverpool’s guys who started playing better and better, and in no time the picture on the court completely changed. It was the Reds now who dictated the pace and the tempo of play. The woodwork saved City twice, stopping Virgil Van Dijk’s header and Mohamed Salah’s effort. However, Liverpool scored in the 77th minute through Matip.
After that goal, the sky-blues were defending with all of their power and somehow managed to get away with a draw. Truth to be told, they were inches away from a loss. Guardiola admitted that to the journalists following the match.
“In the last 15 minutes we were exhausted and they had chances to win the game,” stated the Spanish manager.
Claudio Bravo made the difference during the penalty shootout. The Chilean goalkeeper stopped Georginio Wijnaldum’s shot, and that was the only missed penalty today. City’s trophy was secured by Gabriel Jesus who routinely beat his teammate from the Brazilian national team.
Jurgen Klopp wasn’t that bothered with the fact that his team missed a chance to win the Community Shield. The German was more interested in Liverpool’s quality of play and the fact that they found a way to break City and force them to defend.
“I’m completely happy about the full performance,” he told the media. “I said before the game, if you want to be prepared for Man City you have to make a pre-season game against Man City; no team plays like them.”
Klopp knows that the reigning champions are Liverpool’s biggest rivals for all the trophies this season, regardless of whether they are domestic or European.
Guardiola has a different opinion, and the 48-year-old stated that he expects other teams to step up and show their quality in the upcoming campaign.
“United will be back, Tottenham, Arsenal,” Pep started counting all the clubs he sees in the race for the top of the Premiership. “Chelsea are always there. I don’t know what’s going to happen, we just try to prepare the team and see what happens.”
The world’s most exciting competition starts next Friday. Liverpool will play against the newbie in the league, Norwich City at Anfield Road. City launches its campaign in London versus West Ham.
