When the story comes to be told of the 2018-19 season it will be an oddity that the first heavyweight contest between the two sides who are widely assumed to have the outstanding players is fit really only for a place in the small print. Did Liverpool versus Manchester City really just finish nil-nil? Not many people would have anticipated such an outcome and, for Riyad Mahrez, a strangely subdued game will be remembered as a personal ordeal.
At least Mahrez showed the nerve to take the ball when Virgil van Dijk’s careless challenge on Leroy Sané, one of City’s substitutes, gave Pep Guardiola’s side an 85th-minute penalty and the chance to win a desperately tight match. By that stage Sergio Agüero, City’s usual penalty-taker, had already been substituted. His replacement, Gabriel Jesus, wanted the ball but Mahrez pulled rank and City will regret the missed opportunity. Mahrez’s penalty was struck wildly, missing the crossbar by some distance and still rising as it flew into the crowd.
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