Man City Crush 10-Man Liverpool 3-0 Despite Looming Financial Sanctions

According to a report by Vanguard News on October 12, 2026, Manchester City defeated a 10-man Liverpool side 3-0 in their first match since being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial regulations.

The report stated that goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki in the second half kept City’s unbeaten run going under coach Enzo Maresca. This came after Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for picking up two yellow cards.

The win returned City to a three point lead at the summit of the league table, although the club’s hopes of a sustained title push still depend on the result of their appeal against the financial charges.

An independent panel reportedly ruled that City and their owners from the United Arab Emirates used fake deals to boost revenue and cut costs by over £900 million, equivalent to about $1.2 billion, between 2009 and 2018.

While no punishment has been announced yet, the report noted that City could face a heavy points deduction or even be thrown out of the English top flight if the ruling stands. There have also been suggestions that past titles could be taken away retroactively.

Liverpool fan Martin Reilly, aged 23, was quoted as saying there were countless memories that could never be restored, and he insisted the club should face the harshest possible punishment.

City travelled to Anfield under police protection amid expectations of a hostile atmosphere from home supporters, though the scenes were said to be calmer than the bottle throwing incident that greeted their team bus during a 2018 Champions League tie.

Liverpool fans reportedly welcomed the visitors with chants branding them cheats, and a banner inside the Kop read that a whole generation of supporters had been cheated.

New Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola was said to be without key players Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo through injury, and he suffered his first defeat since taking over at Anfield.

The report added that Doku’s introduction from the bench shifted the momentum of the game. Minutes after coming on, he was fouled by Gravenberch, who picked up his second yellow card of the match, leaving Liverpool to play the rest of the game a man down.

Haaland converted Doku’s deflected effort to break the deadlock before Doku himself curled in a brilliant strike soon after. Cherki completed the rout late on, combining with Josko Gvardiol before finishing past Alisson Becker.

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