In Premier League action, Manchester City dampened Liverpool’s title-winning celebrations with an emphatic 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night (July 2) while Sheffield United finally won their first game since the league restarted.
Sheffield produced a brilliant performance to beat Tottenham 3-1, restoring their hopes of earning a place in Europe next season.
Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola: “We beat the champions, an extraordinary team. We are brave to play, they are brave to play. My team, I like every single game. We tried to play football, take risks. The best team I have ever faced in my life at high pressing.”
“We had the courage to play in the small spaces. It is important. I saw the guard of honour, how they work inside, how focused they were. They didn’t even say thank you because they were focused.
“They drank a lot of beers this week but they arrived here with no beers in their blood which is why I give us a lot of credit.”
Manchester City began the evening with a commendable display of sportsmanship, providing the league champions with a “guard of honour” before kick-off but it was Liverpool who dominated early and they came close through Mo Salah who hit the post early.
Man City eventually scored first via a brilliant penalty by Kevin De Bryne after Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez tussled for a while before Sterling went down. Sterling scored the second before the break as City took a 2-0 lead and Sterling scored a second in the second half, after Phil Foden had added the third.
Liverpool Manager Jürgen Klopp praised his team despite the heavy defeat:
“I like my team how they set up. I think we proved that point. And City proved they are an unbelievably good team. Isn’t it nice that another team can be champions even when City is around and plays this kind of football?”
“City are incredible. I’ve seen their games – they haven’t played a bad game all season. Even when they lost they still played really good football. But in the end the situation is like it is.
“I saw a brilliant attitude. I saw fight. We didn’t behave like somebody who became champions a week ago. We lacked fluidity. And in some 50-50 situations they were quicker than us.”
In the earlier game, Sheffield United’s win came with goals from new signing, Sander Berge who gave the Blades the lead, followed by some VAR controversy after Harry Kane’s goal was ruled out for handball by Lucas Moura.
Sheffield United added a second through Lys Mousset from an Enda Stevens’ cutback and a third from Oli McBurnie – his fifth goal of the season.
Harry Kane finally pulled one back to end the game at Sheffield United 3-1 Tottenham, meaning United go up to 7th and Spurs lie in 9th position.
Jose Mourinho, Tottenham’s Manager was not impressed:
“I’d like to but I can’t say what I think, I’ll be in trouble. I’ll be suspended. I don’t want to be. The one here is not the referee. The referee is hidden in some office. The referee is there. This man on the pitch is not the referee. He doesn’t make the decisions. The main decisions in football now are made by the man in the office. I don’t speak with the assistant referee that was today with the whistle on the pitch.
“That’s the reality. I’m not telling anything that we football people know. The linesman makes a decision but of course technology made the decision in the office where they are. The decision on penalties, the decision on handballs, free-kicks. Everything is not made by the referee on the pitch, the referee on the pitch is not the referee.”
Chris Wilder, Sheffield United’s Manger weighed in:
“I’ll sleep tonight. I sensed after a decent performance against Arsenal on Sunday that we were showing signs of recapturing the form that got us into the position pre-lockdown. But there’s no getting away from it, it was a really good performance and a big three points for us.”
“The shape of the side was good. We limited an excellent side at the top of the pitch to not a huge amount of opportunities and when we broke it up we played, created some decent chances and were clinical.”
