Rampant Manchester City Crush Liverpool 4-0 With Haaland Hat-Trick

Erling Haaland scored a superb hat-trick as rampant Manchester City crushed an insipid Liverpool 4-0 to book a place in a record-extending eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final.

Despite manager Pep Guardiola watching from the stands, City dismantled Liverpool in ruthless fashion in a confidence-bruising game ahead of the Reds’ Champions League clash against PSG midweek.

Liverpool have not been particularly good this season and have failed to re-enact the free-scoring form of last season, but the manner in which they capitulated would leave coach Arne Slot rethinking his approach and could put his time on the red side of Merseyside in doubt.

It was not as if City hit their very best, but dismantling a Liverpool side that appeared toothless and short of ideas will further increase pressure on the Dutch coach over whether he is the right man for the job.

City’s victory comes 15 days after a commanding performance in their win over Premier League leaders Arsenal at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final.

Speaking of peaking at the perfect time, the blue half of Manchester backed that victory over Arsenal with another impressive performance, moving closer to a domestic cup double.

For all the expectations, City did little to threaten Giorgi Mamardashvili’s goal but were rewarded in the 38th minute when Haaland converted from the penalty spot – just as he did at Anfield in the league this season – following Virgil van Dijk’s clumsy trip on Nico O’Reilly.

The Norway striker had been on a relatively barren run in front of goal before this game, but he added a second by guiding a header into the far corner from Antoine Semenyo’s cross on the stroke of half-time.

Liverpool had played fluently earlier in the game at the Etihad Stadium – with Florian Wirtz prominent – but their inability to convert chances proved costly.

The Blues failed to deal with a long ball over the top, but Mohamed Salah, playing for the first time since announcing he will leave Anfield this summer, hesitated when through on goal and saw his effort blocked wide.

He later had a penalty saved by James Trafford, while Hugo Ekitike’s strike from inside the area flew wastefully over.

City were much more clinical, as Semenyo clipped in a delightful finish early in the second half to make it 3-0 before Haaland completed his treble to seal City’s serene progression to the last four.