Manchester City Beats 10-Man Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield in First Match Since Guilty Verdict

Manchester City silenced a hostile Anfield crowd on Sunday, beating 10-man Liverpool 3-0 in its first match since an independent commission found the club guilty of a raft of financial breaches, according to The Associated Press.

City’s players were jeered and taunted by Liverpool fans from the warm-ups through kickoff, with chants of “cheat, cheat” echoing around the stadium. But the away section, decked out in blue and waving giant inflatable bananas, was cheering loudly by the end after second-half goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki kept the Premier League leaders’ perfect start to the season intact.

The game swung around the hour mark, with the score still 0-0, when Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second yellow card. Haaland made no mistake with a first-time finish from Doku’s deflected cross in the 65th minute — three minutes after the red card. Doku curled a shot into the top corner three minutes later, and Cherki completed the rout with a shimmying finish inside the box.

A hostile welcome, a defiant win

“In this moment all the organization needs this kind of win,” City coach Enzo Maresca said. “It’s good for us as a coaching staff, it’s good for the players, it’s good for the fans, it’s good for the organization.”

Maresca said the players needed to learn to handle the noise around the club’s case: “We need to learn how to deal with the outside noise because of the situation… So we need to learn how to deal with that, but at the same time we need to try to make our noise. That is win games like we have done today.”

“This is a lovely moment and the feeling after the game will stay with us for a long time,” Haaland said. Liverpool coach Andoni Iraola acknowledged the turning point: “I think we played two different games today. One game until the red card where the players have been very good and we were the best team, but a goal hasn’t materialized. The second game from there, City were better than us.”

Many Liverpool fans headed for the exits with more than 10 minutes left. Outside the stadium, supporter Sav Agathangelo told the AP: “They should be stripped of everything they’ve won.” City’s team bus had largely avoided the home fans by taking an alternative route to the stadium.

What comes next for City

The commission found City artificially inflated its revenue by more than $1 billion over a nine-year period from 2009-18 — a span in which the club won three league titles and signed stars like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne. City has appealed; potential sanctions include a massive fine, points deductions or even expulsion from England’s top flight.

For now, City sits top of the standings with a 100% winning record, three points ahead of defending champion Arsenal, with the 3-0 win a welcome relief for the embattled club after what the AP called the biggest scandal in Premier League history.

Reporting based on coverage by The Associated Press.