Liverpool won the Community Shield, which brought together the English Premier League and Cup champions, by defeating Manchester City 3-1 on Saturday at King Power Stadium in Leicester.
He scored for the winner, Trent Alexander-Arnold (21) and Mohamed Salah (83 from a penalty kick), and Uruguayan substitute Darwin Nunez (90 +4), and for the loser, Argentine substitute Julian Alvares (70).
It is the 16th title for Liverpool in the competition and the first since 2006, to be equal with Arsenal, while Manchester United holds the record number of victories with 21 titles.
On the other hand, City failed to win the shield for the seventh time in its history, and for the third time in the last five years, after winning the years 1937, 1968, 1972, 2012, 2018 and 2019.
The conflict between the newcomers to the Norwegian City, Erling Haaland and Liverpool Nunez, tilted in favor of the latter, who caused a penalty kick and scored the third goal for his team.
And the German Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool coach, had brought Nunez to compensate for the departure of Senegalese Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, in exchange for an initial deal worth 64 million pounds, and it could rise to a club record of 85 million pounds.
On the other hand, Haaland did not appear in the image of the dangerous top scorer with his former team, Borussia Dortmund, after he left for 51 million pounds, as he failed to score the net and only hit the post in the sixth minute of stoppage time for the second half.
Many things have changed in the two clubs, especially since Pep Guardiola’s team won the league title last season at the expense of the Reds by an orphan point.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach opened the door for many of his cadres to leave. Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko left for Arsenal, while Raheem Sterling joined Chelsea and Fernandinho returned to Atletico Paranaense.
On the other hand, Klopp’s team almost touched football glory after spending the second half of last season in an exciting pursuit of the dream of achieving an unprecedented historic quartet, but it failed in the league and the main continental competition after collecting the Cup and League Cup titles.
Liverpool also experienced an exciting chapter of rumors and speculation about the departure of its most prominent stars, led by Salah, to decide the future of the best player in the league last year by linking him to a new contract.
Liverpool seemed the most dangerous in the first half, and possessed the ball by 57 percent after 17 minutes from the start, the Scotsman Andrew Robertson headed into the outside net after a pass from defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, before the latter opened the scoring with a pass from Salah for the Reds with a shot from outside. The penalty area hit the head of Dutch defender Nathan Ake and deceived the Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson (21).
City responded through Halland, who followed a long pass, a shot on the fly that was blocked by Spanish goalkeeper Adrian (34), and pressed in the last minutes, ending the first half with the progress of Liverpool.
The English champions started the second half with a dangerous opportunity after a ball in the back of the defense reached the Algerian international Riyad Mahrez, who overtook Robertson and hit a ball that was blocked by Adrian (47).
Guardiola put Phil Foden and Alvarez in place of Jack Grealish and Mahrez, and Klopp responded by taking out Brazilian Roberto Firmino and introducing Nunes (59), who wasted after 5 solitary minutes after a pass from Jordan Henderson and hit a ball that hit the face of the rushing goalkeeper Ederson.
Alvares was at the good thought of his coach after he equalized from Foden’s ball and the goalkeeper blocked it to return to him, while the referee used the video assistant referee “VAR” to confirm the validity of the goal (70), before City tasted the same bitterness in a scenario similar to calculating a penalty kick. In favor of Liverpool, after a handball on Portuguese captain Robin Diach from a header by Nunes, Salah successfully shot it to the right of the goalkeeper (83).
Nunes added the third to his team with a header, two minutes after Haaland’s goal was canceled due to offside (90 + 2), before he blocked the post with a shot to the latter before the final whistle.