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Goals, attacking football, a sudden-death finish and a costly slip from Steven Gerrard. Yankee Stadium saw last season’s Premier League title race between Liverpool and Manchester City rolled into one game on Wednesday night.
When the dust (and there was a little too much of it beneath the grass laid over parts of this famous baseball stadium) had settled, Liverpool were the winners as they beat the Premier League champions in a penalty shootout two months after losing the title on the last day of the season.

You had to question City’s appetite to reach the final of the International Champions Cup in Miami on Monday and shave a couple of days off their preparations for the Community Shield against Arsenal when Aleksandar Kolarov, Jesus Navas and Yaya Toure — making his first appearance since threatening to quit the  champions — failed with their first three penalty attempts, leaving Lucas Leiva to seal victory for Liverpool.

These two teams will battle for greater prizes this season but, for now, the Merseysiders go on to face AC Milan in Charlotte today with a chance to clinch top place in their group and set up the possibility of a final showdown with Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United in Florida of all places.

That opportunity could still be open to City as well but only if they beat Olympiacos in Minneapolis and hope for a Liverpool slip-up.

Brendan Rodgers’s side looked to be slipping to defeat when Stevan Jovetic continued his rich vein of form by twice putting City ahead in the second half, but Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling struck back. A shootout would not even have been necessary had second-half substitute Joe Hart not made three outstanding saves and a last-gasp Sterling effort been incorrectly ruled out for offside.

This mecca of baseball will be home to New York City when they launch in Major League Soccer next season and it certainly made for a curious venue for football, with the pitch shoe-horned awkwardly at an angle into the stadium and sandy turf laid over the baseball quadrant in one corner of the pitch.

Any soccer sceptics in the crowd or watching on television, meanwhile, would hardly have been won over by what was on show in the first 45 minutes before they were finally given something to shout about in the second half.

It was competitive and entertaining but Manuel Pellegrini and Rodgers will be pulling their hair out if their players defend like this when City entertain Liverpool in their first home game of the season next month.

The word before kick-off was that Liverpool were rather less concerned about getting to Monday’s final than City but you would not have known that by the start made by the men in red who had by far the most support in the stadium.

Liverpool made five changes to the team that beat Olympiacos, with new £20 million signing Lazar Markovic ruled out by injury, while City rather surprisingly gave starts to Edin Dzeko and James Milner – their first World Cup players to feature on tour — who played the first 45 minutes.

Dzeko was soon involved, playing a clever one-two with Jovetic who cut back inside Kolo Toure but made a meal of going down under a non-existent challenge from Martin Kelly which did not impress Canadian referee Silviu Petrescu.

The Bosnian had the ball in the net with a neat finish after 26 minutes but it was correctly ruled out for a marginal offside, while Navas and Bruno Zuculini both failed to beat Brad Jones from promising positions.

At the other end, Philippe Coutinho drilled narrowly wide from the edge of the box before Rickie Lambert wasted by far the best chance of the first half.

The England striker had time to pick his spot as he rose to meet Jordan Henderson’s cross at the far post after quarter of an hour but aimed his header straight at Willy Caballero who blocked with his shoulder from point-blank range.

Caballero was replaced by Hart at half-time in one of a number of changes by both teams and the England international was called into action within five minutes, rushing out to deny Liverpool substitute Jack Robinson as the youngster was played in on goal.

City were ahead moments later and not for the first time in recent months it was a moment that left Liverpool captain Gerrard rather embarrassed.

Navas outstripped Robinson down the right and Gerrard made a complete hash of blocking his cross as it squirmed through his legs and fell to Jovetic who touched the ball past Simon Mignolet from a few yards out.

Hart made another fantastic save as he came out to block Coutinho’s effort when Gerrard’s pass deflected off Fernando and into the Brazilian’s path moments later, but he could not keep out Henderson’s equaliser in the 59th minute.

Sterling played in Daniel Sturridge and although Dedryck Boyata got a foot in to deny the England striker, the ball ran loose to Henderson who curled it into the top corner.

Zuculini should have restored City’s lead when he fired against the bar with the goal gaping, but their second arrived in the 67th minute and again Liverpool’s defending was in question.

Jovetic played the ball out wide for Navas to cross and when Kelechi Iheanacho’s low shot struck Jovetic’s legs, the Montenegrin reacted faster than Sebastian Coates to prod the ball past Mignolet.

It was Jovetic’s fourth goal in two games following his double against Milan in Pittsburgh.

Hart thought he had done enough to secure victory when he did brilliantly to keep out Mamadou Sakho’s header, but Liverpool snatched another equaliser five minutes from time as Lucas produced an exquisite touch to play Sturridge’s cross in to Sterling and he guided the ball past his England colleague.

Sterling was denied a wonderful winner with the last kick of the game as he was incorrectly flagged for offside before beating Hart with another delightful curling finish, but any sense of injustice was erased by the penalty shootout.

City’s first three efforts were pretty woeful, Kolarov firing over and Toure and Navas seeing their efforts saved by Mignolet before Iheanacho produced an amazingly cool finish for a teenager.

Sturridge also blazed his penalty over the bar but Emre Can and Henderson had put Liverpool in the driving seat before Lucas converted the winning spot-kick for a 3-1 victory. — Dailymail