Man City Come From Behind to Win 2-1 at Anfield in Stoppage Time
Manchester City kept their Premier League title challenge alive with a 2-1 comeback victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, sealed by an Erling Haaland penalty deep into added time. The result was City’s first win in front of a crowd at Anfield since 2003 – a wait of more than two decades – and it cuts the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points with matches still in hand.
Liverpool had taken the lead through a brilliant Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick in the 74th minute, and with six minutes of normal time remaining, the title race looked close to being decided in Arsenal’s favour. What followed was a sequence of events so compressed and chaotic that it reshaped the entire contest in a matter of minutes.
The Final 15 Minutes: A Timeline of the Collapse
Szoboszlai’s free-kick was a genuine moment of quality. Faced with only a two-man wall from 30 yards, the Hungary captain drove his shot straight down the middle with enough swerve to leave the 6ft 5in Gianluigi Donnarumma completely stationary. It was the kind of goal that deserved to be a winner – similar in execution to the free-kick Szoboszlai scored to beat Arsenal back in August.
But City responded within minutes. Haaland knocked a ball down in the Liverpool box, and Bernardo Silva met it on the volley, driving his shot through the legs of Alisson. It was Silva’s first Premier League goal of the entire season, arriving at the most significant possible moment.
Liverpool pushed for a second goal immediately. Alisson came forward for a late set piece, leaving an empty net behind him. Rayan Cherki gained possession inside his own half and launched a shot toward the unguarded goal from distance. Szoboszlai chased it down alongside Haaland, and what happened next became the defining incident of the match.
Szoboszlai pulled Haaland back as both sprinted toward the rolling ball. Haaland then tugged Szoboszlai in return. The ball crossed the line. After a VAR review, referee Craig Pawson ruled that Haaland had been denied a clear goalscoring opportunity by Szoboszlai’s initial foul. The goal was disallowed, a free-kick was awarded 30 yards out, and Szoboszlai received a straight red card.
From the resulting chaos, City won a penalty when Alisson – still upfield – brought down Matheus Nunes. Haaland stepped up and converted to make it 2-1, scoring only his second Premier League goal since Christmas and his first ever at Anfield.
Table: Key Events – Liverpool vs Manchester City, Final 20 Minutes
| Minute | Event | Impact |
| 74′ | Szoboszlai free-kick gives Liverpool 1-0 lead | Title race swings toward Arsenal |
| 84′ | Bernardo Silva volleys equaliser (1-1) | Silva’s first league goal of the season |
| 90+3′ | Szoboszlai pulls Haaland chasing loose ball | VAR review triggered |
| 90+4′ | Szoboszlai red card; Cherki goal disallowed | Liverpool reduced to 10 men |
| 90+5′ | Alisson fouls Nunes; penalty awarded to City | Goalkeeper caught upfield |
| 90+6′ | Haaland converts penalty (1-2) | City’s first Anfield crowd win since 2003 |
What the First 73 Minutes Actually Looked Like
The drama of the ending obscures the fact that most of this match was a tense and tactical contest where neither side created clear opportunities in open play. City dominated possession for long stretches, particularly in the first half, but Liverpool defended with a discipline that has not always been present this season. The Anfield crowd booed City’s extended spells of ball retention, with the loudest jeers directed at Marc Guehi – a player many Liverpool fans believe should have signed for the club before his transfer deadline move to City fell through.
Alisson denied Haaland twice before half-time, and those saves set the tone for a game in which the Norwegian struggled to find space against a compact back line. Mohamed Salah had Liverpool’s best first-half chances, seeing one shot deflected wide by Guehi and lobbing another onto the roof of the net after Donnarumma misjudged a cross.
The second half followed a similar pattern until Florian Wirtz began to find pockets of space. Guehi diverted a Wirtz shot behind for a corner and was later booked for pulling back Salah on the edge of the area. Hugo Ekitike bent a shot wide and then headed off target from a position where he should have scored. City also lost defender Abdukodir Khusanov to a concussion caused by a collision with his own goalkeeper – an incident that summed up the disjointed nature of the visitors’ attacking play before the late breakthrough.
What This Means for the Title Race
The result keeps City within striking distance of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, though the gap remains substantial. For Liverpool, it continues a pattern that has defined their season since the turn of the year: the inability to protect leads in matches where they need results most.
Table: Premier League Title Race After Liverpool vs Man City (8 February 2026)
| Position | Team | Points | Gap to Arsenal | Form (Last 5) |
| 1st | Arsenal | – | – | Leaders |
| 2nd | Manchester City | – | 6 points | Won at Anfield; title race alive |
| – | Liverpool | – | Behind Arsenal | Another lead surrendered; Szoboszlai suspended |
Szoboszlai’s red card carries a minimum three-match ban and removes a player who has been one of Liverpool’s most effective performers in the biggest fixtures this season. His free-kick against City was his second decisive set piece against a title rival in 2025-26, following the goal against Arsenal in August.
City travel to their next fixture knowing that the margin for error remains thin at six points, but the psychological impact of winning at Anfield in the manner they did – from behind, in added time, with a penalty after a red card – is the kind of result that sustains a title challenge through the final third of the season. Liverpool, meanwhile, must regroup without their most in-form big-game player and with the growing sense that their title defence has slipped beyond recovery.
