Manchester City eliminated holders Liverpool out of the League Cup in a dramatic 3-2 win at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday evening.

After a month off for the World Cup, two of English football’s heavyweights returned to action in this round of the tournament, with City’s Kevin De Bruyne shining brightest in a very talented field.

The Premier League champions City took the lead twice thanks to Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez, but the Premier League runners-up Liverpool quickly responded with goals from Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah.

When Ake made it 3-2 just before the hour mark, the visitors still couldn’t find a way to tie the game.

“After the World Cup and a long time of not playing, both teams were incredible with high level and intensity,” City manager Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“Liverpool are so difficult, when they play good they destroy you.”

He added: “Kevin played with a fire inside of him. He had to find it. What a player. How many years he’s been coming here? Eight years? He’s an absolute legend.”

While conceding that City are a “super, super, super side who do things extremely well,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp lamented his team’s defensive play.

“The goals we conceded were completely unnecessary…We played a good game but not good enough to beat City tonight.

“There’s a lot we can build on and we can take into the next games and that’s what we’ll do.”

Haaland seemed to have a free run against Liverpool’s defense. In the 10th minute, he scored his 24th goal of the season by turning in De Bruyne’s near-post cross after getting in front of Joe Gomez.

Within 10 minutes, however, Liverpool tied the game when Carvalho scored off a cross from James Milner after the former City midfielder was given too much space in the penalty area.

At halftime, the away team made two changes. Fabinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on for Stefan Bajcetic and Carvalho.

But Liverpool fell behind again before either of the two replacement players could play.

Only 76 seconds into the second half, Mahrez scored after Rodri crossed the ball from the right side of the penalty area.

But City’s lead was gone less than a minute later when Nunez sped past Laporte on the left and Salah scored on a weak cross to tie the game at 2-2.

But after a lot of ups and downs, City went ahead for the third time when Ake headed in De Bruyne’s pinpoint cross after a quick corner kick in the 58th minute.

Oxlade-Chamberlain went down in the penalty area after colliding with Ake in the 69th minute, but David Coote didn’t give the Reds a penalty kick. Since VAR wasn’t used, the referee’s decision stood.

Liverpool, on the other hand, had a great chance to make it 3-3 when a great pass from Naby Keita put Nunez free down the right sideline while he was still offside.

But after running past the City defense, Nunez’s shot went wide of the far post, despite coming from a sharp angle.

Photo by EPA/Adam Vaughan