Klopp’s team win the Community Shield and win the title that opens the season in England against the Premier League champions
Liverpool rules in England. The team led by Jürgen Klopp defeated Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday in a duel that evoked many emotions and served as a calling card for Darwin Núñez. The Uruguayan striker emerged as the protagonist in the 3-1 draw for the ‘reds’ by causing Mohamed Salah’s penalty to put his team ahead and closing the score in the final stretch with his first official goal in his new phase in English football.
It was July 30, but the atmosphere of the big party was already in the air. Leicester’s King Power Stadium dressed up, including ‘God save the queen’, to lift the curtain on the season in English football. FA Cup champions Liverpool and Premier League winners Manchester City met for a Community Shield that serves year after year to evaluate how the greats arrive after the pre-season and watch the new signings land. So it was. Erling Haaland monopolized all the spotlights at the start of the match, while Darwin Núñez waited expectantly from the bench.
The attention on the Norwegian was so great that Liverpool took advantage of it to come on the field much more plugged in than the ‘citizens’. Jürgen Klopp prepared the fall, handed the ball to Pep Guardiola’s men and took advantage of the full-backs’ presence in the opposite field to blast toward Ederson’s goal. For example, Salah was able to score after a ball behind Cancelo or Robertson after a lateral cross. It was two warnings before the goal was hit with a shot by Alexander-Arnold from the edge of the box that had been poisoned after hitting Ake’s head.
Adrian, Alexander-Arnold (Milner, min. 74), Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson (Elliot, min. 73), Fabinho, Thiago (Keita, min. 85), Salah (Jones, min. 96), Firmino (Darwin Núñez, min. 59) and Luis Diaz (Carvalho, min. 90).
Ederson, Walker, Rúben Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne (Gündogan, min. 73), Bernardo Silva, Mahrez (Julián Álvarez, min. 58), Haaland and Grealish (Foden, min. 58).
Liverpool had a plan and just 20 minutes were enough to leave City in awe, who still took to the field in flip-flops but gradually acclimatized to the clash. Haaland and Mahrez were able to confirm that improvement before the break, but came across an Adrián who was going to give war.
After the restart, City did not find the formula to crack a comfortable Liverpool ahead of the scoreboard. The lack of rhythm, typical of these preseason heights, took over some ‘sky blues’ who had no idea after the break. Then Guardiola took the opportunity to shake the shaker by moving a bench that continues to have infinite resources year after year. Phil Foden and Julián Álvarez came in to add some spice to a duel that at the time wandered into the final stretch with no unforeseen events. The Argentinian is swollen to score goals with the River shirt and in the first substitution, on his debut, he caught a loose ball in the area to tie the game and bring the Community Shield to a boil.
Liverpool rose to the challenge and changed the second-half defensive retreat for the giddiness that is always inherent in Klopp’s teams. The person in charge of that 180-degree turn would be Darwin Núñez, who went into the field and became ubiquitous. The former Benfica player was a headache for City’s defense until he made a mistake. He came in, failed a heads-up, missed a few checks and started to be decisive in the final minutes. He defeated Rúben Dias in a header that went into the Portuguese’s hand and sent Salah into the cage from the penalty spot to blow up the whole ‘citizen’ reaction. Already ahead of the scoreboard and in discount time, the Uruguayan once again showed his instinct to move around the area and head for the third goal, the signature of a dream debut that will make the ‘reds’ the super champions of English football.
Source: La Verdad
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