Five Famous Liverpool Wins Against Manchester City At Anfield: Including A 6-0 Thrashing And An Andy Carroll Brace
9th September 2000
LIVERPOOL (1) 3 (Owen 11, Hamann 56, 82)
MAN CITY (0) 2 (Weah 67, Horlock pen 81)
LIVERPOOL: Westerveld; Babbel, Song, Henchoz, Traore; Gerrard (Ziege), Carragher,Hamann, Barmby; Heskey, Owen (Meijer)
MAN CITY: Weaver; Haaland, Prior, Howey, Ritchie; Horlock, Wiekens, Whitley, Kennedy (Weah); Wanchope, Dickov
Both teams came into this game with 2 wins each from their opening four games of the season. But City had been shipping goals and Liverpool were full of confidence after Michael Owen’s hat-trick had beaten Villa in the week.
After the disappointment of Euro 2000, players like Michael Owen seemed determined to start the season with a bang and he’d hit 5 goals already this season. 11 minutes into the game and he got his 6th. Heskey played him in from just inside the City half and as Weaver came out to narrow the angle, Owen deftly curled the ball round him with the outside of his right foot. Owen had now scored 6 goals in 3 games in a week and was bang in form.
City troubled the home defence a few times but the general play wasn’t pretty. Just before half-time Heskey was fouled by Steve Howey right on the edge of the area, but the ref gave a free-kick from which nothing came for the home side.
Owen and Heskey then both went close with chances in the second half before Liverpool went 2-up. Play began out on the right but the ball floated into the area was headed away by Howey, who beat Heskey to it. The ball dropped for Dietmar Hamann, on the edge of the ‘D’ and he controlled it on his chest and then volleyed it with his left foot, giving Weaver no chance.
City manager, Joe Royle, then made a change which transformed his side. George Weah came on for Mark Kennedy and within 10 minutes he danced through the defence before hitting an unstoppable shot to bring the visitors back into the game. With just under 10 minutes to go, Traore brought down Haaland in the area and Horlock converted the penalty to level things up. But before City could dream of earning a point from a seemingly hopeless position, Christian Ziege, making his debut, delivered a long throw and Hamann was on hand to blast his 2nd of the day and Liverpool had won dramatically.
Of course this was a record season for Liverpool as they won 3 cups, FA, League and UEFA Cups with each one containing a dramatic finish. In the League they finished 3rd, grabbing a Champions League place on the final day. For Manchester City, this was another season to forget as they were relegated.