Pep Guardiola instead sided with reserve goalkeeper Jacques Stephen as he made the changes at Wembley. However, the call of the City boss failed, with Stephen to blame for what turned out to be a turning point in the game.
Seeing Ibrahima Konate pass him for Liverpool’s first game, the American gave Sadio Mane his first afternoon when the Senegalese international rushed in as Steffen spent too long to bring the ball under control. The incident caused comparisons with a similar situation during the meeting of the two sides in the league last weekend, when Anderson recovered just in time to prevent Diogo Jota from slipping to score.
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Mane added a third just before halftime to end the game for Liverpool. Despite second-half goals from Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, City were unable to return to the game.
Guardiola’s decision to start Steffen ahead of Ederson was further underscored by the fact that Jurgen Klopp was ranked number one – despite having played Caoimh Kelleher in previous rounds and in the Carabao Cup. And, speaking after the game, Allison admitted that he was surprised to see his teammate in Brazil not start in the goal.
“I was waiting for him to play, to be honest,” Alisson told beIN SPORTS.
“Here in England, coaches have the option of switching goalkeepers sometimes. This season was different for us: I played a few games before the FA Cup and Caoimh had the opportunity to play the League Cup. For me, especially It’s important to play all the games, their coaches trust their goalkeeper, so all is well.
“We get the victory. It was all we wanted. Our goal was to improve from the last game we played against them. [Man City] and we did. At the end of the match, the score was quite tight, but you are playing against a big team “.
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On the possibility of winning the quadruple, Alisson added: “We do not have much time to think about all things. Our heads are always focused on the next game and the next challenge we have. Of course we dream, but we dream awake on our feet. on the ground and humble.
“We have to keep up with what we are doing in the Premier League, in the Champions League and now we have achieved a big goal we had from the beginning of the season: to reach the FA Cup final.”
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