{"id":751188,"date":"2026-02-08T19:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/751188\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:26:21","slug":"liverpool-1-2-man-city-player-ratings-which-city-star-showed-nerves-of-steel-after-a-quiet-start-who-lost-the-game-for-liverpool-and-which-reds-player-will-be-haunted-by-a-glaring-second-half-mis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/751188\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool 1-2 Man City PLAYER RATINGS: Which City star showed ‘nerves of steel’ after a quiet start? Who lost the game for Liverpool? And which Reds player will be haunted by a glaring second-half miss?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what was an extraordinary game of football, Manchester City<\/a> kept their title hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool<\/a> at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring for the Reds with a sublime free-kick in the 74th-minute, before Bernardo Silva<\/a> levelled the scoring somewhat out of nowhere 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland<\/a> then scored a 93rd-minute penalty, whipping his shirt off and charging towards the away support as they all-but secured the victory.<\/p>\n

And if that wasn’t enough, City could – and possibly should – have had a third when Rayan Cherki’s pass trundled into the net. But VAR intervened in astonishing fashion to rule out the goal and send Szoboszlai off.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail Sport’s LEWIS STEELE was there to rate the players for Arne Slot<\/a>‘s Reds, while JACK GAUGHAN delivered his verdict for City’s stars.<\/p>\n

\"Dominik <\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai scored a sublime second-half free kick to open the scoring for Liverpool<\/p>\n

\"Portuguese <\/p>\n

Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva levelled the scoring for Manchester City 10 minutes later<\/p>\n

\"Erling <\/p>\n

Erling Haaland scored a last-gasp penalty in a goal that ultimately secured the victory for City<\/p>\n

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1):<\/b><\/p>\n

A<\/b>lisson – 5<\/p>\n

Made what looked like a match-defining save after just two minutes to deny Haaland but his rash foul on Nunes lost the game for Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai – 7.5<\/p>\n

Where do you start? One of the very best free-kicks we have ever seen in the Premier League is the moment to remember as the late red card was inconsequential.<\/p>\n

Ibrahima Konate – 6<\/p>\n

A solid, strong performance from Konate with some big moments when riding out pressure in the first half.<\/p>\n

Virgil van Dijk – 6<\/p>\n

Won nearly every header against the aerial challenge of Haaland but some of his passes were loose.<\/p>\n

\"Szoboszlai <\/p>\n

Szoboszlai was shown red in the dying seconds of the dramatic affair at Anfield on Sunday<\/p>\n

Milos Kerkez – 6.5<\/p>\n

A top-class first half up against the tough test of Semenyo. Was out-run by Nunes for City\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n

Ryan Gravenberch – 6<\/p>\n

City\u2019s midfield box played through Liverpool too easily in the first half and both Gravenberch and Mac Allister were maybe guilty.<\/p>\n

Alexis Mac Allister – 5.5<\/p>\n

The Argentine has not been at his best this season but so nearly equalised right at the death but for a fingertips save from Donnarumma.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah – 5<\/p>\n

Did nothing in the first half but was effective after the break and would have had an assist or two but for poor finishing from team-mates.<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz – 6<\/p>\n

When he got on the ball, he played some exquisite passes. The problem was he did not get on it enough.<\/p>\n

Cody Gakpo – 5<\/p>\n

Did not do enough as Nunes and Khusanov dealt well with everything from Liverpool\u2019s left.<\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike – 6.5<\/p>\n

Has been Liverpool\u2019s best new signing but several missed chances here, including the 55th-minute header that went inches wide, will haunt him in this game.<\/p>\n

\"Hugo <\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike missed a massive headed opportunity to put Liverpool 1-0 up after 55 minutes<\/p>\n

LIVERPOOL SUBS:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curtis Jones (for Gakpo, 85)<\/p>\n

Federico Chiesa (for Kerkez, 90+4)<\/p>\n

Subs not used: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Endo, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.<\/p>\n

LIVERPOOL MANAGER<\/p>\n

Arne Slot – 6<\/p>\n

City\u2019s game-plan nullified Liverpool for the vast majority of this game.<\/p>\n

Gianluigi Donnarumma \u2013 7.5<\/p>\n

The Dominick Szoboszlai free kick was unstoppable but could he have had more in the wall? That last-minute save is why City bought him.<\/p>\n

Matheus Nunes \u2013 7.5<\/p>\n

The Portuguese has previously looked overawed on these occasions but comfortable here and went right to the end by winning the penalty.<\/p>\n

Abdukodir Khusanov \u2013 7<\/p>\n

Forced off as a concussion substitute after taking a nasty blow. One positional mistake after half-time but another decent afternoon.<\/p>\n

Marc Guehi \u2013 7.5<\/p>\n

Some incredibly assured pieces of defending when holding up attackers before half time \u2013 but was almost in huge trouble when Salah broke free.<\/p>\n

\"Marc <\/p>\n

Marc Guehi controlled City’s defence and had a good battle with Liverpool winger Mo Salah<\/p>\n

Rayan Ait-Nouri \u2013 6.5<\/p>\n

Definitely improving at left back and provided a real threat going forward for the visitors. Couple of tricky defensive moments.<\/p>\n

Rodri – 7<\/p>\n

More composed at the base of midfield, although did tire in the second half \u2013 as happened at Tottenham last week.<\/p>\n

Bernardo Silva \u2013 8.5<\/p>\n

Absolutely everywhere again. Labelled a major doubt beforehand but you wouldn\u2019t know it. Crucial to how City played.<\/p>\n

Antoine Semenyo – 5.5<\/p>\n

Frustrating afternoon. Probably not as involved as he would\u2019ve liked in midfield or up front. Needed extra care on the ball.<\/p>\n

Nico O\u2019Reilly – 8<\/p>\n

Some top work higher up the pitch in turning over possession. Understood his midfield role in a very mature display.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland – 7<\/p>\n

Largely quiet again \u2013 until the last 10 minutes. Completed the header for the equaliser and then showed nerves of steel to slot away the penalty.<\/p>\n

\"Nico <\/p>\n

Nico O’Reilly was one of Man City’s best players and put in a mature performance on Sunday<\/p>\n

Omar Marmoush \u2013 5.5<\/p>\n

Nothing really happened for him. Busy alongside Haaland and showed glimpses but could\u2019ve impacted it more.<\/p>\n

Subs<\/p>\n

Ruben Dias (for Khusanov, 61) – 6<\/p>\n

Rayan Cherki (for Marmoush, 61) \u2013 6.5<\/p>\n

Nathan Ake (for Semenyo, 90)<\/p>\n

Manager<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola \u2013 7.5<\/p>\n

Great team performance before half time, the usual drop off thereafter but a stunning late comeback that could be huge in the title race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what was an extraordinary game of football, Manchester City kept their title hopes alive with a 2-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[15129,748,92,393,1103,94,4884,179,93,16,15],"class_list":["post-751188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-britain","tag-dailymail","tag-england","tag-erling-haaland","tag-football","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-sport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116036659553912794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}