After Manchester City eliminated Liverpool from the EFL Cup, Jurgen Klopp was left to regret an initial 15 minutes that he claims killed their confidence and made them concede “completely unnecessary goals.”
At the Etihad Stadium on Thursday, City defeated the tournament’s defending champions 3-2 in an exciting match to go to the quarterfinals. The Premier League winners took the lead after Erling Haaland volleyed in a precise cross from Kevin De Bruyne, but Fabio Carvalho equalized for Liverpool.
At the beginning of the second half, Riyad Mahrez’s exquisite touch and finish restored City’s advantage, but only 80 seconds later, Mohamed Salah tied the score once more for the Reds.
However, City was the superior team, and Nathan Ake scored just before the hour mark by heading in a superb cross from the De Bruyne.
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Jurgen Klopp told Sky Sports: “We played a formation that we haven’t played for a long time, and we had to change in pretty much our last [training] session. You could see that, we needed time to adapt.
“In the first 15 minutes we had real problems and that killed our confidence and conviction a little bit.”
He added: “The goals we conceded were completely unnecessary. We had to be more switched on, especially for the third goal. Also the first goal, we should deny the cross.
“There are a lot of things we can build on and that’s what we will do. It’s a result we have to live with now.”
James Milner left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury, although Klopp expressed optimism that Milner did not sustain any serious harm.
Due to a sickness, Trent Alexander-Arnold was unable to participate, while Virgil van Dijk, who represented the Netherlands at the World Cup, is expected to rejoin the team for the Boxing Day match at Aston Villa.
