When Erling Haaland swept the ball home for a first Manchester City hat-trick since August 2024 it sent swathes of Liverpool fans for the exits. Only 57 minutes were gone yet City were cruising at 4-0 and Arne Slot’s men were being schooled.

Haaland’s third, in which Jérémy Doku and Nico O’Reilly walked the ball through Liverpool before the No 9 hooked in off the bar, epitomised the patheticalness that set in with the striker’s 39th-minute penalty opener.

Until then those in red went toe-to-toe with their hosts, Hugo Ekitiké (twice) and Mohamed Salah spurning chances they had to take. Yet after the break the chronically impotent Salah missed two more, early chances, before failing where Haaland prospered – from the spot: at 4-0 down, the Egyptian steered the ball to James Trafford’s left, City’s goalkeeper parried, and Liverpool’s misery deepened further.

The beleaguered Slot knows the heaviest defeat handed to his Liverpool will damage his job prospects because next up is Wednesday’s date at the European champions, Paris Saint-Germain; if they go down in similar manner in the Champions League quarter-final, then the owners may have a decision to...