The goal monster was Haaland and the star was Doku, but the man who laid the foundations for the party at the Etihad was Nico Gonzalez. Pep Guardiola celebrated his 1,000th game as a coach against a Liverpool side that gradually fell apart from within; Konate was not up to the challenge and was overwhelmed by the quality of Jeremy Doku.

The match began with a completely unleashed Doku and a Konate who got up on the wrong side of the bed. The French centre-back is not having the best season in the world and he did not have the best game either, as he gifted a ball to the Manchester City winger, who ran into the box to face Mamardashvili, who according to the referee committed a penalty. Doku dribbled and managed to get away from the Georgian, but at the last moment a touch with the goalkeeper's knee unbalanced the Belgian and after trying to shoot he went to the ground. The former Valencia man was clear; he was able to stop him and so he did.

If Konate had already started badly, he was not going to improve all of a sudden and in the 30th minute he saw how a real goal monster, named Erling and surname Haaland, ate him up to head a ball to the far post and smash it into the back of the net. This meant that Liverpool had to respond as soon as possible and the truth is that they tried, but without much success. Van Dijk headed wide of Donnarumma's goal from the corner, but Robertson 'took' the vision away from Donnarumma and the linesman raised his flag to signal the Scotsman's positional offside.

In the absence of a response from Liverpool, City continued to play their game and Nico decided to prove that he is not only the perfect replacement for Rodri, but much more than that. From a corner kick and with everything against him, the Spaniard struck and the shot ended up hitting a Liverpool player, making life difficult for Mamardashvili, who could do nothing.

Doku's exhibition

Liverpool wanted to change the pace of the game and the truth is that in the first few minutes they were about to scare Pep's side, however, what they did was to set off the alarm bells at the Etihad. That is why Doku was clear about what he had to do; silence the murmurs after Gakpo's chance with a deafening shot into the top corner of the 'Reed' goal.

Jeremy Doku received the ovation of the thousands of fans who went to the Etihad in his 100th game with City, but what they did not know is that after his departure Liverpool would grow as it had not done throughout the game. However, neither Gakpo nor Salah could beat the former PSG player, who managed to keep Pep's party uninterrupted.