It is less than 14 months since Liverpool came to the Etihad Stadium, Arne Slot outwitted one of his coaching heroes with his use of twin false nines, won 2-0 and took a giant stride towards the Premier League title. Pep Guardiola is not seen off quite that easily, however. Slot’s subsequent visits to Manchester City have been crushing.
Such slim chances as Liverpool had of retaining their Premier League crown ended with a 3-0 defeat in November. Their FA Cup run came to an abrupt halt with a 4-0 demolition here. “An unbelievable disappointment,” said Slot.
Not for City. They walked past the Carabao Cup on their way on to the pitch and took a stride towards winning the FA Cup. For Liverpool, unless a bedraggled, beaten group can somehow recover to claim the Champions League, starting with the first leg of their quarter-final against holders Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, it will be a season without silverware.
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For Slot, already aware some of the Liverpool support want him gone, the soundtrack was of City fans chorusing “sacked in the morning”. And if their timescale is inaccurate, it was scarcely a result to enhance Slot’s prospects of remaining in charge for next season.
His heaviest defeat in charge of Liverpool, and joint heaviest of his managerial career, was a chastening affair. Not merely for him: Mohamed Salah, in the first game of his extended goodbye, skewed a shot wide for a throw-in, via a touch from Abdukodir Khusanov, when through on goal and, when 4-0 down, had a penalty saved by James Trafford. These were emblematic moments for a man whose powers are waning.
There were triumphant ones for City counterparts. Erling Haaland converted his penalty. A forward who has specialised in scoring multiples of goals had not in 2026. A first double of the year became a first City hat-trick of the season. A man who has had a barren spell still has 33 club goals for the campaign and 12 hat-tricks in his time at City. “He is a machine,” said the City assistant manager, Pep Lijnders.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has his own extraordinary statistics. City had a banner prepared: “Wembley again, ole, ole.” They had reason to bring it out. They are in an eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final, extending their own record. Guardiola has enjoyed enviable resources but an import’s commitment to the most English of competitions cannot be questioned.
As in the Carabao Cup final, he could enjoy the exploits of a revamped team. Liverpool could rue them, given that two of their destroyers could have made their way to Merseyside. Slot spoke to Rayan Cherki last summer but signed the costlier Florian Wirtz. Liverpool were interested in Antoine Semenyo in January but City stumped up the transfer fee. The winger ended with a goal and an assist, the No 10 with pivotal parts in two goals; not for the first time, Liverpool had little to show for their own £450m outlay. Meanwhile, the other catalyst, crucial in the first and fourth goals, was the Mancunian marvel Nico O’Reilly.
Liverpool’s capitulation came either side of half-time, four goals conceded in 18 minutes of football. “The fighting spirit wasn’t there enough,” lamented Dominik Szoboszlai. “Those 20 minutes the way we defended when we conceded the four goals is absolutely not good enough,” said Slot.
It began with City’s third penalty in as many meetings with City this season when O’Reilly, after deft footwork, was tripped by Virgil van Dijk. Giorgi Mamardashvili had saved a spot kick from Haaland here in the Premier League, but not the FA Cup. As in November, Liverpool then could not hold out until the interval. “The second time we conceded just before half-time playing Man City,” said Slot. Cherki and Semenyo combined, the latter crossed and Haaland evaded Ibrahima Konate’s half-hearted leap to glance in a header. “I love these old-school striker goals,” added Lijnders.
Slot often talks about the significance of set-pieces and is aware only Joe Gomez has a long throw at Liverpool. A goal stemmed from it: City’s third. Cherki pierced their defence with a pass and Semenyo dinked a shot over Mamardashvili. The latter then had so much confidence he tried to score from 65 yards. Instead, Haaland did from about eight, after O’Reilly sprang the offside trap to square.
It completed a brutal assault; indeed, after Guardiola booted the advertising hoardings at Wembley, Haaland kicked the corner flag in celebration of his opener. Liverpool struggled to find an answer to City’s attack, getting respite only when Guardiola removed Haaland, Rodri, Cherki and Semenyo.
“Both teams accepted it was 4-0,” said Slot. “No one will remember it but the first 35 minutes there was a lot to like from my team.” He had opted for a 4-2-2-2 system and Liverpool had congested the centre of the pitch. Yet Guardiola found the flaw in the formation. Liverpool got outflanked on their left for City’s second goal and on their right for the fourth.
Suspended for past bookings, he was sat alongside his daughter in the stands. The Dutchman celebrating in the dugouts was Lijnders, Jurgen Klopp’s sidekick, and now Guardiola’s assistant. The coach from the Netherlands in a personal purgatory was Slot. His dominance of Guardiola was restricted to last season.
The Catalan continues to excel. City are unbeaten in 18 FA Cup ties at home, with an aggregate score of 81-6. Yet another scoreline this season may have more pertinence: over three games, it has been City 9 Liverpool 1. The numbers can worry Slot. So, too, can the way a disastrous 18 minutes unravelled.
