Manchester City will make another trip to Wembley Stadium this season after Erling Haaland’s hat-trick led them to a 4-0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Antoine Semenyo also got on the scoresheet for City at Etihad Stadium as they ran riot against the Reds, who saw Mohamed Salah begin his farewell tour with a missed penalty in the second half.
It was an end-to-end start to the quarter-final, with Abdukodir Khusanov making a crucial block to deny Salah in the box before Rayan Cherki was let down by a poor first touch when being played through on goal by Bernardo Silva.
However, City made the breakthrough in the 39th minute from the penalty spot. Nico O’Reilly was bundled over by Virgil van Dijk, and Haaland sent Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way from 12 yards out.
City did not look back after taking the lead as Haaland doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, heading in from Semenyo’s cross before the winger scored five minutes after the restart with a dinked finish over the Liverpool goalkeeper.
Haaland completed his hat-trick in the 57th minute, converting from O’Reilly’s cutback, and Liverpool’s misery was compounded shortly after the hour mark as Salah saw his penalty saved by James Trafford after Hugo Ekitike was brought down by Matheus Nunes.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE!
4-0 @okx pic.twitter.com/OZqog1iBiN
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 4, 2026
Data Debrief: Familiar feeling for hat-trick hero Haaland
After a nervy start, it proved to be an impressive victory for City, who produced 2.5 expected goals (xG) from 11 shots to Liverpool’s 1.43 from the same number of attempts.
Haaland was responsible for 1.76 of City’s xG total, with the Norwegian putting on a classic display, scoring from all three of his shots while recording the fewest touches of any City starter (16).
Since his City debut in July 2022, Haaland has scored 12 hat-tricks across all competitions, now the outright most across Europe’s big five leagues, moving one clear of Harry Kane (11), whilst Liverpool became the 11th different team he has netted 3+ goals against since joining the club.
Haaland is also the first player to score five goals against Liverpool in all competitions in a single season since Matt Le Tissier in 1993-94.