LIVE UPDATES
- Thanks for tuning in and see you soon!
- Now, the Premier League awaits. Liverpool opens its Premier League campaign next Friday against newly-promoted Norwich City at Anfield, while City begins away at West Ham United on Saturday. Stay tuned to Sportstar for all updates, news and reports from the 2019-2020 Premier League season!
- So that's all from our side. Manchester City is crowned the 2019 Community Shield winner after Jesus scored the winning penalty after the match headed into a penalty shootout, as Matip cancelled out Sterling's strike.
FULL TIME: LIVERPOOL 1-1 MANCHESTER CITY (City wins 5-4 on penalties)
- Manchester City wins the Community Shield 5-4 on penalties. Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Zinchenko, Foden and Jesus were on target for Guardiola and Co., while Wijnaldum missed for Liverpool.
- JESUS SCORES AND THAT'S FIVE IN FIVE FOR MANCHESTER CITY IN THE PENALTY SHOOTOUT! CITY WINS THE COMMUNITY SHIELD!
- MO SALAH SCORES! 4-4.
- ZINCHENKO SCORES! 4-3 to Manchester City.
- OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN SCORES! Liverpool still in this game. 3-3.
- PHIL FODEN SCORES! Alisson goes the wrong way. 3-2.
- LALLANA SCORES! He goes for the bottom left corner. 2-2.
- BERNADO SILVA SCORES FOR MANCHESTER CITY. 2-1.
- WIJNALDUM MISSES! BRAVO PULLS OFF A SAVE. 1-1.
- GUNDOGAN SCORES! Gundogan holds his nerve, curling his effort into the corner. 1-1.
- SHAQIRI SCORES! He goes for the bottom right corner and sends Bravo the wrong way. 1-0.
- Shaqiri will take the first penalty for Liverpool.
With the scores tied, the match now heads into a penalty shootout to decide the winner.
90+4' SAVE! Bravo denies Shaqiri late in the game. Liverpool works an opening in the box as Salah tees up the Swiss for a strike. He goes low towards the bottom corner from the right inside channel, but the City keeper makes the save.
90+2' GOAL LINE CLEARANCE FROM WALKER! Walker saves the game for City with an acrobatic clearance off the line to deny Salah. The Egyptian capitalises on a mistake from Otamendi to race through on goal, although Bravo saves his first strike. The rebound falls back to Salah and he nods the ball over the keeper towards the net. It seems destined to cross the line, but at the last second Walker sprints back and clears the ball over his own bar.
90' Four minutes of additional time
will be played.
89' Young Foden has come on for De Bruyne now.
88' SAVE! Rodri loses out to Oxlade-Chamberlain at the back and that allows Salah another sight at goal, but Bravo is decisive and races off his line to block the shot from the Egyptian.
84' Six minutes of regulation time pending now. I f the score remains 1-1, the game will head straight into penalties to decide the winner. No extra time will be played.
82' SAVE! Keita feeds on Lallana's cross from the right flank, but the midfieder's shot from distance is blocked by Bravo between the sticks.
78' Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaqiri and Lallana have come on for Origi, Firmino and Henderson respectively.
77' GOAL! LIVERPOOL 1-1 MANCHESTER CITY. Matic scores the equaliser for Liverpool! Liverpool is back in the game as Matip heads home from close range. It all comes from a free-kick from the right flank from Henderson as his delivery goes through the crowd of players, but Van Dijk gathers in the left inside channel. The Dutchman guides the ball back into the middle where Matip rises to guide his header past Bravo into the net. Game on.
74' It looks like Shaqiri is about to come on for the Reds. Could he be the game changer for Klopp and Co.?
68' SAVE! Bravo denies Salah. From the middle, Henderson sends the ball through for Salah on the right, who unleashes a left-footed shot, which goes between the legs of Zinchenko. Bravo, however, does well to dive to his left and collect the ball.
66' Matic comes on for Alexander-Arnold, while Keita replaces Fabinho in the midfield for Liverpool.
61' CHANCE! Sterling is played through on goal by Walker following a good run and pass from the full-back. He has only Alisson to beat, but he dwells too long on his decision as De Bruyne tries to race forward in support. Sterling fails to connect with a strike, allowing the Liverpool keeper to make the save.
59' There's a VAR check against Alexander-Arnold for charging into Bernardo Silva and then flicking out at the Portuguese. However, the officials deem that it was not worthy of punishment.
58' OFF THE POST! Salah strikes the woodwork. The forward turns the City defence inside and out before striking a low effort towards the bottom corner. However, the ball comes off the post and bounces out before ZInchenko sends it behind for another corner.
57' OFF THE LINE! From a corner kick, Van Dijk flicks the ball towards the goal, but his effort hits the crossbar and bounces out. The ball, however, does not fully cross the goal line, and as the rules suggest, no goal is awarded.
48' POST! David Silva finds the ball on the left wing and he plays it forward. Jesus leaves the throughball for an onrushing Sterling, who hits it into the post. However, the midfielder was offside and his attempt wouldn't have counted had it entered the net.
47' Sterling whips in a cross from the left wing and Jesus sets up David Silva, who takes a shot that flies over the bar.
46' Second way is underway.
- Manchester City holds a 1-0 lead over Liverpool at the break in the Community Shield courtesy of Raheem Sterling's 12th-minute strike. Both sides have had chances in front of goal, but City has been the more clinical. The Reds switched off at the back and allowed Sterling to pounce, guiding a low strike beneath Alisson. Mohamed Salah at the other end has had three good openings, but his radar has been uncharacteristically off this afternoon. However, there has been enough promise from Liverpool in the final third to suggest that this contest is far from over.
HALF TIME: LIVERPOOL 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY
45+3'
De Bruyne nearly keeps the ball in play on the right side but the linesman flags for a goal-kick.
That's the last action of the half. City started brightly and got the early goal, but Liverpool has grown into the game since the 20-minute mark. Salah on his best day would have burried some of those chances he had.
Three minutes of added time.
44' De Bruyne's cross from the right side is cut out by Henderson for a corner kick. Jesus was lurking behind to meet it, timely interception by the Liverpool skipper.
Guardiola goes into the history books, gets a yellow card!! He goes into the book for remonstrating with the fourth official for that Gomez tackle. The new season will allow referees to caution the managers for bad behaviour.
40' City players and Gaurdiola aren't happy.. Gomez with a high boot on David Silva, who goes down clutching his right foot. No yellow card, Silva gets up and doesn't appear to be hurt.
38' Alexander-Arnold's inswinger is out of reach for the Liverpool heads. He would be disappointed with that effort.
38' Otamendi miscues his clearance and the ball goes behind for a corner kick for Liverpool.
36' Sterling has got into good areas from the left channel in the last few minutes but his final passes have let him down.
33' De Bruyne with an unfair challenge on Origi. Free kick to Liverpool.
32' Sterling plays a ball over the top for Silva to chase down but Gomez covers the pass and lets it go out for goal kick.
29' Zinchenko's headed clearance can't get past Salah inside the box, whose outside of the boot shot flies over the bar.
24' Liverpool looks threatening on the counter with Salah and Firmino. Firmino wins the ball from Rodri deep in City's half, plays in Salah who surges forward before playing Roberton in the center. Robertson miscues his final delivery back to Salah, which ends safely in the palms of Bravo.
Better from Liverpool with its build play..
21' Superb from Salah! He twisted and turned past three City players before releasing Firmino on the right, who mishit his pass for Origi.
17' Jesus nearly with the second goal for City after a block inside Liverpool's box fell kindly onto his path. His shot was thwarted from close range by Allison.
Gabriel Jesus comes on for Sane.
15' Salah again! Great strength from the Egyptian in his battle against Zinchenko on the right flank. He darts inside the box and his shot is again wide of the near post..
12' GOAL! Sterling scores for City!! A move out of the training ground for City launching a ball over the right side wall where Zinchencko nods the ball into the box. David Silva flicks it into the path of Sterling, who struck it low to Allison, who couldn't manage to keep it from trickling into the net.
9' Yikes... Sane has gone down clutching his knee tussling for a high ball. That could spell trouble for Sane before the start of the Premier League season or his rumoured move to Bayern Munich. He is walking gingerly off the field and he is done foe the evening.
8' Salahhhh!! Stones with an error with his pass from the back and Liverpool nearly punishes City for it. Firmino plays in Salah on the right, whose first time shot is wide of the near post...
7' De Bruyne lifts the corner kick high over the City usual suspects inside Liverpool's box
6' Firmino with a superb touch to bring the ball down inside the box, takes another touch and unleashes a shot at Bravo on the turn! Either side of Bravo and that could have been 1-0 Liverpool!
4' Sterling wins the ball through from Gomez outside Liverpool's area and plays in Sane on the left. He takes a touch before rifling a shot onto the side of the net! What a chance for City that!
1' Liverpool kicks things off. City is playing in its special 125th anniversary kit.
FIRST HALF
Both managers have gone with strong starting XIs. A debut for City's record signing Rodri at the heart of the midfield. Sadio Mane doesn't feature for Liverpool this evening. Origi will start in the front three with Firmino and Salah.
The players are going through their customary handshakes before kick-off. Last season's top two English sides are set for the first duel of the new season. A first trophy of the season is at stake here but a defeat for either side will not prove to be a big deterrent.
TEAM NEWS!
Manchester City: Bravo; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko; Rodri, Silva (C), De Bruyne; Sane, Bernardo, Sterling.
Subs: Ederson, Gundogan, Jesus, Aguero, Angelino, Foden, E Garcia
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Origi, Firmino, Salah.
Subs: Mignolet, Lovren, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Shaqiri, Matip.
PREVIEW: Excellence, pettiness, the social-media bubble and a very modern rivalry
Manchester City and Liverpool spent months staring each other down, waiting for one of them to blink in last season's Premier League title race.
As the absurd relentlessness unfolded week after week, neither budged and City's 98 points edged out 97 from the runners-up.
No one blinked. The question heading into Sunday's Community Shield encounter at Wembley is has this made them sick of the sight of one another?
"I went to university in Liverpool years ago and I remember Liverpool and Everton fans would ask 'are you City or United?'," Dan Burke, content editor for OneFootball and a contributor to the Blue Moon Podcast, recalled.
"I'd say City and they were like, 'oh, we don't mind City'. I think definitely Liverpool don't like City anymore. "Both sets of fans know how to get under the other ones' skin."
The reasons for football rivalries vary in each instance. Some are rooted in simple geography, others fester and mutate amid sporting competition and some exploded out of a controversial flashpoint.
They develop and evolve over time, which leads to the obvious question of what relationship do Manchester City and Liverpool share on the back of 2018-19's remarkable exploits?
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp share a deep mutual respect, which compels each to conduct themselves above the fray for the most part.
At his news conference ahead of the English season's traditional curtain-raiser, Guardiola declared himself "bothered" by Klopp's recent comments on City's spending capacity. Naturally, a few moments later he described his former Bundesliga foe as a "class manager, top manager… incredible".
Klopp and Guardiola might bristle occasionally but will never make a Jose Mourinho-Antonio Conte spectacle of themselves. Whether the same can be said of two fanbases where enmity appears to be growing is debatable.
Faux-rivalry
"For me it seems like a faux-rivalry based on current events because we have two great teams who look quite sustainable in terms of what they want to achieve," said Nina Kauser of the Anfield Index.
"You had 2013-14, when City pipped us to the league and it was quite respectful. Maybe there was a turning of the tide when Raheem Sterling signed for City in 2015 and that made it a bit bitter for Liverpool fans.
"But as a whole, I really don't see it as a rivalry. I find it quite petty."
Burke agrees that the 2013-14 Premier League title battle and Steven Gerrard's fateful slip left a mark, but events have accelerated over the past year and a half.
Liverpool's rousing 4-3 win over City at Anfield in January 2018 handed the champion-elect the first defeat of its 100-point Premier League season.
Three months later, City was back on Merseyside for a Champions League quarter-final that began with smashed bus windows and ended in a 5-1 aggregate defeat.
Liverpool's defeat to Real Madrid in that season's Champions League final was then commemorated in a – to use Burke's description – "tawdry" terrace chant at City, which brought embarrassing PR when it featured fleetingly in the squad's 2018-19 title celebrations.
"I think the Champions League two legs is where it really began. That ramped it up – the arguing, the bickering," Howard Hockin of the 9320 Podcast explained, slightly wearily.
"I'm not going to go anti-Liverpool on you, but we'll think they were terrible and their fanbase is appalling and living on past glories. And they'll say different things about us.
"It's a different era now with social media, you see everything. I'm not going to judge a fanbase by what you see on Twitter because it's a very strange world where you live in a bubble.
"I went to a party at the end of last season and spoke to a Liverpool fan. You have a completely normal conversation.
"For all I know, I might have an argument with that person behind an anonymous user name the next day, saying ridiculous things."
Don't read the replies
Social media noise is undeniably a factor here. If long-standing rivalries should be aged and enjoyed like a fine whisky, the modern equivalents can often feel like someone throwing payday Jagerbombs down their throat before happy hour ends.
"I cannot be bothered with online bitterness in any way, shape or form. It's fundamentally boring," said Neil Atkinson from the Anfield Wrap.
"I genuinely don't care what Manchester City supporters are doing or saying. It bores me to tears.
"In terms of a sporting sense there is a rivalry between the two sides and the two managers. Thus far it's been intense on the pitch, but it's also been friendly.
"I think if you could offer both managers a magic button and the Community Shield was Manchester City versus Watford they'd probably take that.
"Whereas if you go back to the Liverpool-versus-Everton rivalry of the 1980s, or the classic Premier League rivalry of Manchester United versus Arsenal, those sides would have liked to play each other and kick lumps out of each other every week. That's where I think it's different."
The best of enemies
Everton and Manchester United. The can't-live-with-them, can't-live-without-them characters in this story who means all passions City and Liverpool direct at one another over the coming seasons might ultimately feel like a passing fling.
"We play Everton and it's massive and it dominates my life," Atkinson added. "It's psychologically huge.
"Everton could be 19th having not won in 10 and, if we were going to Goodison Park, it would be all I'm thinking about all week. That will never be the case with City and that's fine."
It's a position that Hockin and many of the thousands who will descend upon Wembley this weekend share.
"There's no doubt, if you ask most City fans they will say it has to be United who are our rivals," he said. "They'd have to be relegated for that not to be the case and go down three divisions.
"We've lived in their shadow for decades and five or six years finishing above them in the league doesn't change the fact that my whole lifetime it's been about United and getting one over them."
Comments
SHARE