Iraola disputes Gravenberch red as City sweep Liverpool aside 3-0

Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield to hand Andoni Iraola his first defeat as Liverpool manager. The Premier League game turned on a second-half red card that Iraola said he did not agree with.

Ryan Gravenberch was sent off in the 62nd minute for two bookings when the score was still 0-0, according to BBC Sport. A booking is a yellow card, and two yellows mean an automatic red. That left Liverpool to finish the game with ten men against the champions-elect pressure of City's attack.

City made the advantage count fast. Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku scored within a six-minute span to break the game open, as reported by Yahoo Sports. Rayan Cherki added the third to complete a clean sweep for the visitors, with all three scorers named by BBC Sport.

Until the sending-off, Liverpool had held their shape. After it, the gaps appeared. City moved the ball wider, found extra room between the lines, and Liverpool could not cover the ground with one fewer player.

Iraola was blunt about the key moment after the match. He said he did not agree with Gravenberch's red card in the defeat at Anfield, as shown in footage carried by BBC Sport. He added that he did not like the refereeing connected to the decision.

Managers rarely speak that directly about officials. His point was simple. He felt his team was punished too harshly at 0-0, and the punishment decided the result.

The result ended Iraola's unbeaten start in charge of Liverpool. City, for their part, showed a ruthless streak. Three goals away from home, without reply, is the kind of win that steadies a dressing room.

There was extra noise around this fixture. It was City's first game since being found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League rules, according to Reuters. The club had been braced for a hostile reception at Anfield, with that same report pointing to the atmosphere facing Pep Guardiola's side on Merseyside.

For supporters, this will be remembered as two stories in one. One is the football story: 0-0 to 3-0 in a flash once Liverpool went down to ten. The other is the wider story that followed City into the ground.

Liverpool will point to the 62nd minute. City will point to what came next.