Manchester City won 3-0 at Anfield on Sunday, a result that few were surprised by despite the pregame hostility and the ongoing cloud of their guilty verdict. Coach Enzo Maresca dismissed the scandal as "noise," a framing that critics would call inappropriate, since the verdict poses a near-existential threat to the club. Still, Maresca's approach works: name the fear, block it out, and control what you can control. City's players were booed and called cheats by Liverpool supporters, but they have faced worse in their careers, and several had already written protective clauses into their contracts when they joined.
Liverpool, missing Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike, managed little in a low-key first half. The match turned after Ryan Gravenberch received a second yellow card, a decision the author found less harsh than the first. City then showed the composure that has defined their season.
Elsewhere, Manchester United and Tottenham drew 1-1, a result that did little to ease pressure on Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi. In Spain, Real Madrid won an ugly 1-0 game against Villarreal, overshadowed by Jose Mourinho's familiar antics and Vinícius Júnior's red card. Arsenal also won despite a sloppy second half, and Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain all raised questions of their own.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing