Premier League - Last-gasp Kuyt wins it for Liverpool
Dirk Kuyt scored another late winner as Liverpool fought back from 2-0 down to beat Manchester City 3-2 in an entertaining clash at the City of Manchester Stadium.
The Reds needed two second-half Fernando Torres strikes to get back on level terms after a goal from the in-form Stephen Ireland and a Javier Garrido free-kick had given City a two-goal cushion at the break.
The home side had full-back Pablo Zabaleta sent off for a lunging tackle on Xabi Alonso and were hanging on at the death as Liverpool pushed hard for a late winner - with Kuyt firing home from close range in extra-time to maintain Liverpool's impressive start to the season.
It was Kuyt's first league goal of the season, but matched his dramatic late winner in the Champions League qualifiers when he fired his side past Standard Liege with a 118th-minute goal.
The Dutch international had a golden chance to open the scoring for Liverpool when Alberto Reira - Liverpool's chief attacking threat - pulled the ball back to him, only for the Dutchman to balloon his shot on the spin over the bar from eight yards out.
And City made the breakthrough just a minute later when Shaun Wright-Phillips cut the ball back from the by-line; Jamie Carragher blocked Robinho's stabbed effort, but the ball fell to Ireland, who rifled home an unstoppable shot.
With Liverpool getting plenty of players forward and putting plenty of pressure on City, it looked like the home side would need a second goal - and they got it just before half-time through the unlikely source of full-back Garrido.
Wright-Phillips won the free-kick 25 yards out with a typically-mazy run, but even the most staunch City fan wouldn't have expected the Spaniard to curl a stunning effort into the top corner to earn a mobbing from his team-mates.
The visitors came out flying at the start of the second half, and it came as no surprise when they cut the deficit as Torres bundled home Álvaro Arbeloa's low cross from close range after the overlapping full-back had been played in by Steven Gerrard.
Robinho, who had a quiet game and was bundled off the ball a number of times by combative Liverpool challenges, should have restored City's two-goal lead just after the hour but he somehow bundled the ball over the crossbar from five yards out after Wright-Phillips had out-paced his marker down the right.
City's job was made harder when they lost Zabaleta to a red card, the full-back diving in recklessly on Alonso in midfield, with the referee pulling out his card with no hesitation.
With relentless pressure on the City goal, the Liverpool equaliser was inevitable. It came on 73 minutes when Torres lost his marker to meet a Gerrard corner with a glancing header at the near post to beat Hart.
The visitors continued to push foward in search of a winner, with Torres missing a fantastic chance for his hat-trick when he matched Robinho in sliding the ball over the crossbar from three yards after meeting substitute Robbie Keane's low cross.
But Kuyt was on hand to spare his blushes and win the points that keep Liverpool in the top two, turning home the rebound after Torres had seen a shot blocked by his own player, Keane, on the edge of the six-yard box. |
發表於 2008-10-6 12:35 AM
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