Tuesday 3 March 2015

Coutinho Stunner Halts Champions Charge

After seeing their European adventure ended by Besiktas on Thursday night, Liverpool returned to domestic duties with a huge clash against reigning champions Manchester City who looked to end a run of 12 visits to Anfield without a win. 

The starting XI saw four changes from Thursday with Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic all included as the Reds looked to bounce back from playing over two hours in Turkey. 
A fairly quiet start from both sides saw the first chance come from Coutinho combining with Lallana which saw the latter fail to test Joe Hart with an awkward effort but they linked up again minutes later with Lallana rifling an effort past Hart before being denied due to a flag for offside. However, the breakthrough did come in stunning style in the 11th minute as Coutinho picked out Raheem Sterling who in turn fed a great pass to Jordan Henderson who curled a superb effort into the top corner to open the scoring.
A euphoric Anfield came close to turning silent when David Silva clipped a pass over the Reds backline into the path of Sergio Aguero who clipped a shot from a narrow angle and despite beating Simon Mignolet saw the effort cannon off the post. Despite the miss, Aguero soon turned creator as he picked out strike partner Edin Dzeko who first touch saw him hit past Mignolet to equalise in the 25th minute. 

Liverpool's next response came from Coutinho who hit a long-range effort which proved to be comfortable for Hart to claim as the sides went into the interval on level terms. However, the parity could have ended just 20 seconds after the interval as Pablo Zabaleta swung in a dangerous cross which met the head of Aguero whose effort narrowly missed the crossbar.

As the sides remained level after the hour mark, Daniel Sturridge looked set to come on to try and alter the balance but what proved to be the decisive impact came before he could come on as Philippe Coutinho continued his run of superb goals with a stellar strike from the edge of the area which sailed past Joe Hart and into the top corner.

City came close to claiming a point when Aguero hit a low effort just wide of the target but it was not to be City's day as Liverpool held firm to claim a superb victory that boosts their top four hopes and extends their unbeaten run to 11 games making them the sole side in all four divisions yet to lose in 2015.

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