That’s it for today. I’ll leave you with Jamie Jackson’s match report from the King Power Stadium.
Please join our team tomorrow for the big one: England v Germany in the Euro 2022 final. Goodnight!
A delighted Jordan Henderson collects the Community Shield. “It’s like it’s the first trophy they’ve ever won - brilliant!” purrs Roy Keane on ITV.
The moral of today’s game, if there is one, is that third place is well and truly up for grabs.
🔴🏆 LIVERPOOL WIN THE FA COMMUNITY SHIELD 🔴🏆 pic.twitter.com/sDALpBzCtf
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
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I mean, he’s right, although he loses points for saying it on Twitter.
The #Haaland banter compilations will be everywhere this week after that miss, just like #Nunez last week. From 🤡 who have never kicked a ball in their life 🤷♂️
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) July 30, 2022
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Ladies and gentlemen, Andy Carroll is actually trending.
And here’s Erling Haaland miss, for which somebody is going to pay very soon.
Oh boy, it has just not been Erling Haaland's day...#LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/NoAtLhSSYa
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
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Here’s Darwin Nunez’s goal
Darwin Nunez gets his goal 🙌🇺🇾
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
Liverpool draw first blood against Man City this season 👏#LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/4T586WDtQ6
Full time: Liverpool 3-1 Man City
Liverpool win the Community Shield in style. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and the impressive substitute Darwin Nunez got the goals, and their intensity was too great for a City side who are never at their best in August, never mind July.
90+7 min: Haaland misses a sitter! He can’t help but smile wryly as the Liverpool fans jeer with glee. Foden whistled an excellent shot from 20 yards that was saved to his right by Adrian. The ball rebounded to Haaland, who reacted quicker than anyone but then rammed his shot off the bar from six yards out.
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90+5 min Nunez is booked for his celebration. Curtis Jones and someone else have just come on for Mo Salah (who looked entirely reinvigorated) and someone else.
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Nunez has his shirt off in front of the Liverpool fans, and quite right too. It was a terrific team goal. Salah, on the right edge of the area, deliberately picked out Robertson beyond the far post. He guided a header back towards Nunez, who watched the bounce and then stooped to flick a header past Ederson from six yards.
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GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Man City (Nunez 90+4)
Darwin Nunez scores on his Liverpool debut!
90+3 min “I can guess why it means so much to Liverpool,” says Niall Mullen. “Failure to win against any of the other big teams in the league last season will have stung. And Klopp’s Liverpool sides are all about laying ghosts to rest.”
They are going to make a murderously fast start to the Premier League season. Based on today - I know, I know - they look good value at 5/2 to win the title.
90+2 min: Haaland has a goal disallowed! It was a crisp first-time finish, drilled across Adrian, but the ball was out of play before Foden backheeled it to Haaland.
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90+1 min There will be seven minutes of added time, presumably because of substitutions and that never-ending VAR check for the City equaliser.
90 min van Dijk goes down holding his face after a stray arm from Haaland. I’m surprised he wasn’t booked for that. Before play resumes, Fabio Carvalho comes on for his Liverpool debut in place of Luis Diaz.
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90 min There’s a relentlessness to Nunez that Liverpool fans are going to enjoy. He looks like a thorough pain in the derriere to play against.
89 min “Did I miss anything?” drools Simon McMahon. “Fell asleep for much of the second half, and had a weird dream that my house was on fire and Bouncer from Neighbours had to drag me to safety before running off to live with Andy Robertson next door, eventually convincing him to re-sign for Dundee United before leading them to Champions League glory in 2024, exactly 40 years after our first European Cup win. Woof!”
88 min After Liverpool win the ball high up the field, Robertson shoots over from the edge of the area. He had decent options to his left and right, Nunez and Salah I think.
87 min Milner’s cross is headed just wide of the far post by Nunez. He’s been very lively since coming on and could have had a couple of goals.
87 min Here’s that emphatic Mo Salah penalty.
Mo Salah from the spot...You guess the rest 😏🎯#LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/dx4TJwTETB
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
86 min It sounds like it was Dias rather than Cancelo who was booked for protesting about the penalty. They were both flapping their gums with intent.
85 min Naby Keita replaces Thiago in the Liverpool midfield.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Man City (Salah 83 pen)
Salah drives a superb penalty into the bottom right corner. Ederson went the right way but couldn’t reach it. The fury of Liverpool’s celebration shows how much this game means to them.
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83 min Joao Cancelo is booked for dissent. City haven’t take the decision well.
82 min: Penalty to Liverpool! It’s the correct decision; Dias’s arm was away from his body. I think Nunez’s header was going off target, though it was lovely play between him and Salah. Nunez fed the ball quickly out to Salah, who ran at Ake and then teased a cross back towards Nunez at the far post. His header hit Dias, and now Mo Salah has the chance to give Liverpool the lead.
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80 min: Liverpool penalty appeal! Salah’s beautiful flighted cross is headed towards goal by Nunez and hits the outstretched hand of Dias. Nothing is given by Craig Pawson but this should be overturned by VAR.
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77 min No extra-time today. If it stays this, we go straight to penalties.
76 min Bernardo Silva lifts a cross onto the roof of the net. Meanwhile, here’s that debut goal from Julian Alvarez.
‼️ 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘇 ‼️
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
Off the bench and on the scoresheet for @ManCity after a lengthy VAR check 🎥
Watch Liverpool v Man City 👉 https://t.co/aSJBvdDok1 pic.twitter.com/sdeOT6oJKH
75 min Alvarez’s ball towards Haaland is well cut out by Robertson. City are having their best spell of the game.
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74 min: Substitutions galore.
Liverpool Milner and Elliott for Alexander-Arnold and Henderson.
Man City Gundogan for De Bruyne.
73 min Pep Guardiola, bless him, celebrates by giving Alvarez some tactical instructions. The goal was ultimately made De Bruyne, who curled a lovely ball towards Foden at the far post. His cushioned volley was well saved by Adrian, then the two of them fought for the loose ball. It ran to Alvarez, who bundled it in from close range under pressure from Matip.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Man City (Alvarez 70)
After a long delay, the goal is given! Julian Alvarez has scored within 15 minutes of coming on.
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70 min: Alvarez has a goal disallowed! He poked a loose ball into the net from four yards after Foden was twice denied by Adrian, but the flag went up against Foden. This looks onside to me...
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70 min: City penalty appeal! Foden’s cross seems to hit the arm of the falling Matip, but Craig Pawson allows play to continue. I’m sure it’ll be checked by VAR.
70 min De Bruyne’s deep cross is palmed away by the stretching Adrian, who follows the loose ball all the way to the edge of the area before booting it out of play.
69 min Lots of City possession now, though Liverpool look pretty comfortable defensively. Haaland has been very quiet in the second half, so far.
67 min Pep has still got the face on.
66 min Ederson is fine.
65 min There’s a break in play while Ederson is checked for concussion after taking that shot in the coupon.
64 min: Ederson denies Nunez! Almost a debut goal for the record signing Darwin Nunez. He fought with Ake to win a long punt forward, with the ball dropping kindly for Henderson. He slid a lovely pass back towards Nunez, who ran off Ake and tried to lift a first-time shot over the advancing Ederson. It hit Ederson in the face and rebounded to safety.
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61 min “Despite his current punchline status there was definitely a striker lurking somewhere under Andy Carroll’s ponytail,” says Niall Mullen. “Shame we never really got to see it.”
I agree. Imagine trying to mark him on one of his good days. I think I’d rather cross Keyser Soze.
"The plan's worked!"
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 10, 2020
Andy Carroll gets England started in a dramatic game against Sweden from 2012.
📺 Watch it on @BBCTwo and @BBCiPlayer at 14:15 BST. pic.twitter.com/s86SCdYgfX
60 min Nunez charges through on goal and is taken out by the diving Ederson, but the flag goes up before Liverpool can appeal for a penalty. He was just offside.
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59 min: Liverpool substitution There’s a big cheer in the Liverpool end as Darwin Nunez comes on for Roberto Firmino.
58 min: Double change for City Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden replace Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish. Alvarez is playing on the right wing with Foden on the left.
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58 min Darwin Nunez and Julian Alvarez are about to come on.
57 min I’ve seen cup finals with less intensity than this. It’s a really good watch.
56 min De Bruyne surges through midfield and finds Grealish on the left. He attacks Matip with intent - that’s more like it - but then crosses behind Haaland.
54 min A stinging left-footed shot from Alexander-Arnold is blocked. He has drifted inside a lot today, high up the field, to good effect.
53 min Jack Grealish has again been a bit subdued and a bit safe. This is a really big season for him.
52 min It’s overhit and Liverpool clear.
52 min Grealish is fouled by Matip 35 yards from goal. City take a quick free-kick and win a corner on the left, to be taken by De Bruyne...
50 min “My favourite Mané moment is him running straight into the City defence for Salah’s goal in the Champions League quarter final,” says Niall Mullen. “Liverpool had been thoroughly dominated so you might think he’d be a bit tentative/look for the safe option. Nah, charged straight into the lion’s den.”
48 min Pep has the face on and is chuntering to his coaching staff. Let it drift, Pep, it’s the Community Shield.
47 min: Chance for City! Rodri lofts a reverse pass over Robertson that is chested down by Mahrez near the corner of the six-yard box. He mishits his shot into the ground, though, and Adrian is able to push it away. Haaland was galumphing towards the ball when Mahrez chested it down, desperate to burst the net, and on reflection maybe Mahrez should have left it for him.
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46 min City begin the second half.
“Good that Nunez did not start,” says Ian Copestake. “Now Haarland can have his turn being compared to Andy Carroll.”
I half expected to see Lee Bradbury trending when he missed that second chance.
“I was sad to see Mané go,” says Sarah Rothwell, “but will always have the memory of that backheel goal against Watford a few seasons back to make me smile.”
Half-time reading
Half time: Liverpool 1-0 Man City
Liverpool are ahead through Trent Alexander Arnold’s deflected cross/shot. They’ve been a little bit sharper and hungrier than the champions Manchester City, though Erling Haaland did miss a couple of chances in the space of 30 seconds. For a glorified friendly, it’s been really good.
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45+2 min Salah’s cross is well held by the diving Ederson, another important interception with Diaz waiting behind him in front of an open goal.
45 min Robertson heads behind for a City corner. Mahrez’s inswinger is headed away by Firmino.
44 min “This Haaland fellow doesn’t move around very much, does he?” says Tom Hopkins. “I can see in our future a lot of near identical pitch maps being praised to the heavens when he scores and slated when he doesn’t.”
41 min Mahrez cuts into the area from the right, runs into Thiago and goes over. No penalty. Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp is fuming about a high tackle by Cancelo on Alexander-Arnold. They were both challenging for a bouncing ball, and Alexander-Arnold got to it fractionally before Cancelo.
41 min Here’s that Haaland chance. It came at an awkward height, though I think we all know what Mick Harford would have done with it.
What a chance for Haaland 😫 #LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/Znj0Db5qUf
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
40 min De Bruyne finds Mahrez on the right side of the area. He teases Robertson, hugging the ball on his left foot, then hits a sudden shot that is too close to Adrian.
39 min “I do hope neutrals enjoy Liverpool,” says Ian Copestake. “I mean, is it just me/us?”
Sadly not.
38 min Haaland picks up a loose ball in the D and plays a quick pass to Mahrez, whose shot is blocked by Robertosn.
35 min “If we had to have a super league,” says Zach Neeley, “I’d take one with just these two sides. They’re my favorite pair to watch play, better than the Pep-Jose Barca v Madrid (which was a little heavy on drama over quality), most fun since the United v Arsenal back and forth in the early 2000s (though lacking a level of surliness).”
‘A level of surliness’ is a nicely understated phrase.
34 min: Two chances for Haaland! The big man is in the game. His first chance came when he chested down a lofted pass from Bernardo. Robertson bounced off him, and Haaland opened his body to hit a shot that was too close to Adrian. Seconds later he made a mess of a flying, close-range volley. The ball looped up in the air towards Mahrez, whose header from a tight angle was straight at Adrian.
The second one was the better chance for Haaland, though I’d like to see it again before I dismiss him as the worst signing in the history of professional sport.
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32 min Thiago takes Rodri for a little dance. It didn’t amount to anything - he was 20 yards from his own goal - but theLiverpool fans loved it.
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31 min Mahrez’s stinging shot from 20 yards is beaten away by Adrian. He was flagged offside after the event, though replays suggest Alexander-Arnold might have been playing him on. We’ll never know.
30 min Here’s that Alexander-Arnold goal. Cross? Shot? Who cares?
GOAL for @LFC 🔴
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 30, 2022
Salah lays one on for Alexander-Arnold who curls his strike beyond Ederson 🤫
Watch Liverpool v Man City 👉 https://t.co/aSJBvdDok1 pic.twitter.com/i8VQyiMka8
30 min “Whenever I get a bit down on modern football, and society in general, I like to watch a game featuring Andy Robertson,” says Simon McMahon. “He’s like Bouncer out of Neighbours. You can’t feel angry when he’s on the telly. Next I’ll be dreaming that Harold Bishop is the Scotland manager.”
29 min The goal has woken City up a bit. In terms of intensity and atmosphere, this is one of the better Community Shields I’ve seen.
27 min “That Ake bloke is as good as me,” says Ian Copestake, who to reinforce the point has just changed his name from Ian Copest.
25 min At the other end, Firmino slices well wide from 15 yards. Walker did well to hold him up after a fast Liverpool break.
25 min: Chance for City! Mahrez moves infield and slides a lovely little pass outside van Dijk to find De Bruyne. He rampages into the space but then hits the side netting from a tight angle. He probably should have scored.
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24 min On reflection, that might have been a cross rather than a shot from Alexander-Arnold, though you can never be certain with a player of his ability and imagination. Either way, it took a slight touch off Ake and went into the net off the far post.
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23 min The kick off has been delayed because there’s a flare on the pitch.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City (Alexander-Arnold 21)
Liverpool take a deserved lead. Thiago drove a flat, crossfield pass to Salah on the right edge of the area. He took a touch and poked it back to Alexander-Arnold, whose first-time cross-shot deflected off the head of Ake and flashed past Ederson.
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19 min Salah’s quick throw finds Henderson, whose first-time cross is taken away from Diaz by the diving Ederson. That was a vital, probably goalsaving intervention.
18 min The pace and intensity of the game is terrific; moments ago there were about five challenges in space of 10 seconds.
15 min Nothing much to report about Erling Haaland so far. I can only remember a couple of touches, though his movement has been sharp whenever City have put the ball in from wide areas.
14 min: Chance for Liverpool! After a long passing move, Alexander-Arnold’s teasing cross is headed into the side netting by Robertson. The angle was tight and on reflection he should have headed it back across goal for somebody else.
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13 min Liverpool have been much the hungrier side. That isn’t a criticism of City - this is essentially a pre-season game - but interesting to note. Ultimately they lost the league last year because of dropped points in the first half of the season; I suspect this time they will start as they did in 2019-20, when even games in August were must-win.
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9 min The resulting corner is played short and eventually headed wide by Ake, who saw it late because of van Dijk jumping in front of him. Still a half chance though.
8 min Saying which, De Bruyne’s shot from the edge of the area takes a nick off van Dijk and brushes the side netting.
8 min Liverpool have made a really good start, and not just in transition. At the moment they are dominating possession.
6 min Salah, who was relatively subdued towards the end of last season, already looks ridiculously sharp.
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4 min: Chance for Liverpool Fabinho sprays a crossfield pass to Salah, who stretches to keep it in play and then scurries infield. He beats Cancelo with ease just inside the area and whips a shot into the side netting. That was a scintillating burst from Salah. He might have been trying to dummy Ederson, who would have been anticipating a curler towards the far post.
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3 min Henderson’s first-time cross slips under Rodri’s foot and reaches Diaz, whose snapshot is blocked by, well, Dias.
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2 min “Unfortunately, not able to watch the game today,” says Matt Dony. “Has Haaland scored yet? I’m expecting his presence to make it a very long year for everyone who isn’t Man City. (Feels wrong for this kind of pessimism to hit me before July has finished.)”
1 min Peeeeeeeeep peeeeeeeeeeeeeee! The 2022-23 season (top flight, English, men’s) is under way.
Jurgen Klopp and Jordan Henderson lead Liverpool onto the field, then Pep Guardiola and Ruben Dias do likewise with City. Let’s get this 11-month party started.
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“No!” says Zach Neeley. “No!! Funny thing is, best argument for a super league is probably Bayern, the big club most stalwartly against it. Even lopsided La Liga has two at the top, Atletico at their heels, and a couple other competing clubs. Bundesliga feels pointless.”
“Ah, Rob,” weeps Ian Copestake. “Mane is missed. The way his approach to the box could put defenders on their backsides with a mere shimmy of his muscle-only frame leaves his replacements filling a huge hole. I might even watch a Bayern game just to say hello.”
He’s such a big-game player, too, and far subtler than is often recognised. I’ve never seen a pass quite like the one for Mo Salah against Man Utd last season.
“I’m unconvinced by Madrid’s claim to being the best in Europe,” says Zach Neeley. “Their piling up of European Cups this last decade while consistently being outplayed is proof to me that tournaments are for fun, the league campaign shows who is best.”
Is this a subtle way of saying we need a European Super League?
‘Those rough edges, his bullish self-assurance, may be what creates friction’
Pre-match reading
Team news: Haaland starts
Erling Haaland is the only summer signing to start for either team. Liverpool’s record signing Darwin Nunez is on the bench, as are Fabio Carvalho, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega Moreno.
With Alisson and Caoimhin Kelleher injured, Adrian is in goal for Liverpool.
Liverpool (4-1-2-3) Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho; Henderson, Thiago; Salah, Firmino, Diaz.
Substitutes: Davies, Gomez, Konate, Milner, Keita, Jones, Elliott, Nunez, Carvalho.
Manchester City (4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; Rodri; De Bruyne, Bernardo; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Stones, Gundogan, Alvarez, Foden, Mbete, Palmer, Wilson-Esbrand.
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Both teams have also sold big players this summer: Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino – and the mighty Sadio Mane, whose departure deserved more fanfare. The coverage made it feel like just another biggish transfer, rather than the departure of an all-time great. As ever, Jurgen Klopp found the right words.
Preamble
What crazy hell kinda month do you call this? For the first time, the curtain is being raised on the new English season in July. The Community Shield has been played in April (don’t ask), May (see April), August, September and October (including the last time it wasn’t played in August, back in 1958), but never before in July. Welcome to 2022-23, a feast/slog like no other, with a World Cup for a winter break and a Champions League final in the middle of June.
There’s only one way for it to start: with a meeting between the best two teams in England, perhaps the best in the world. (I appreciate Real Madrid would disagree, and their shiny, silver, 74cm, 11kg argument is a persuasive one.) The Community Shield between Liverpool and Manchester City is being played at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, because Wembley is booked for a festival tomorrow.
For reasons too boring to explain, mostly involving the FA Cup, this is only the second Community Shield involving City and Liverpool. But they have dominated English football for the last four or five years, and their rivalry is the greatest in this country since Arsenal and Manchester United saw each other out there.
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have set obscene standards, making 90+ points the norm rather than the exception. Now they are aiming even higher by signing classical centre-forwards. There’s nothing false about Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez, a pair of nines who are as true as a dying man’s final words.
Evolving a great team comes with risk (see: Juan Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, even Ian Wright), but the main reaction to the signings of Haaland and Nunez is excitement - for the teams involved, for the Premier League and for the folk who keep goalscoring records.
If the presence of Haaland and Nunez (and Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez and Fabio Carvalho) isn’t a decent selling point for an otherwise underwhelming fixture, then I don’t know what is. Today is our first chance to see them in a semi-competitive game; to compare and contrast and despair when Andy Carroll starts trending on Twitter.
Kick off 5pm.
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