Carlos Tevez spoilt the show at Anfield with his 100th goal in the English game. The Argentine took advantage of Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel's mistake, a poor backpass, when he netted Manchester City's second of the day to make it all sqare, 2-2.
Liverpool were defiant and intent to perform and come back strong after their dire 3-0 defeat at West Brom last weekend and the Reds did so from the start.
Having lost Lucas Leiva early on in the match due to injury (5.), substitute Jonjo Shelvey and youngster Raheem Sterling impressed with their resilience and stubbornness throughout the match. New signing Joe Allen showed some great creativity and productive passing play and the two Martins at the back, Skrtel and Kelly, kept City's front force of Mario Balotelli and Tevez stumm for most of the game, too.
So, the home side looked dominant and in firm control when Skrtel banged in a header off skipper Steven Gerrard's corner just past the half-hour mark and Liverpool took the 1-0 lead into the break.
However, with just under half an hour to go, Pepe Reina gave away the ball to Yaya Toure who just had to tap it in to level the score 1-1 for City. Exactly three minutes later, Luis Suarez saw his brilliant free kick from just out side the boxc curl around and over the wall into the top right corner of the net, Joe Hart left stranded and City 2-1 behind.
But with City being the new and proven late comeback kings, Tevez made sure the champions would not go back home empty handed turning Skrtel from hero to zero and making Liverpool pay with his equaliser.
Brendan Rodgers brought on Andy Carroll late on to see if the out-of-favour striker could make another comeback out of the comeback, but to no avail. Shelvey came closest to a late winner when he saw his strong drive from 25-yards just clearing the bar.But the Reds can draw strength and confidence from this impressive performance. After making the champions shake and trail as they did, I am sure the (young) Reds can set up a good and strong run and side from here.
FT Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City (HT 1-0)
Liverpool Goals: 1: 33:37min Martin Skrtel (37), 2: 65:54min Luis Suarez (7).
Man City Goals: 1: 62:54min Yaya Toure (42), 2: 79:19min Carlos Tevez (32).
Liverpool: 25 Reina; 2 Johnson, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 34 Kelly (3 Jose Enrique - 66.); 24 Allen, 21 Lucas (33 Shelvey - 5.); 31 Sterling, 8 Gerrard, 29 Borini (9 Carroll - 83.); 7 Suarez (bkd 94.). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 23 Carragher.
Man City: 1 Hart; 13 Kolarov, 28 Toure, 4 Kompany, 5 Zabaleta; 34 de Jong, 42 Toure; 8 Nasri (17 Rodwell - 59.), 32 Tevez, 7 Milner (21 Silva - 76.); 45 Balotelli (10 Dzeko - 62.). 4-2-3-1.
Subs not used: 30 Pantilimon, 6 Lescott, 15 Savic, 62 Razak.
Match Stats: Liverpool-Man City
Attempts: 17-11
On target: 3-3
Offsides: 0-1
Corners: 4-4
Free kicks: 8-10
Possession: 48.7%-51.3%
Tackles: 18-26
Tackles Success: 77.8%-76.9%
Passes: 462-484
Passes Success: 80.5%-84.1%
Crosses: 18-22
Crosses Success: 33.3%-9.1%
Territorial Advantage: 50.5%-49.5%
Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Raheem Sterling (31)
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