Community Shield: Manchester City beat Liverpool in penalty shootout

Manchester City won all the domestic titles available in England last season and they have started in a similar fashion, winning the 2019 Community Shield on Sunday at the Wembley Stadium via a penalty shoot-out.

Pep Guardiola’s men beat their fierce rivals, Liverpool, 5-4 on penalties after both sides had played a 1-1 draw in the regulation period.

It was Raheem Sterling that gave City the lead 12 minutes into an entertaining contest in front of 77,565 at Wembley. But after the Reds took greater control in the second half, substitute Joel Matip headed home a leveller.

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk hit the woodwork and the former also had a stoppage-time header cleared off the line – but a shootout was required to separate the sides and Georginio Wijnaldum was the unfortunate man to have a kick saved.

Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Sliva, Phil Foden, Oleksandr Zinchenko all netted for City before Gabriel Jesus struck the winning spot-kick.

While City would be happy to add another silverware to their collection, their manager Pep Guardiola set a controversial record.

The Spaniard became the first Premier League manager to be shown a yellow card.

Guardiola was booked by referee Martin Atkinson in the 41st minute of the Community Shield encounter with Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday.

The Manchester City boss was left furious after a high challenge from Joe Gomez left City skipper David Silva in a crumpled heap.

Kyle Walker after Sunday’s win told BT Sport he is happy with the first trophy of the season.

“It’s the first trophy you can win. For me, this was a big one growing up.”

On his crucial clearance that denied Liverpool victory, the England international said: “I’m a defender, I stop goals. I’m glad I could help the team out this time, he [De Bruyne] often does the same for me by scoring!”

Liverpool will get the Premier League season underway with a Friday night tie against the newly-promoted side, Norwich City.