Rayan Cherki destroys Liverpool and delights Man City in perfect Arsenal response

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Manchester City playmaker Rayan Cherki was at his best on Saturday to book another trip to Wembley for Pep Guardiola and his team

Rayan Cherki held his hands up to apologise. It wasn't the right thing to do, he accepted, and he wouldn't do it again.

He would of course continue with the flicks, the tricks, the showboating that so angered a certain element of the football family in the Carabao Cup win over Arsenal a few weeks earlier. But having attempted to wear the shirt of France teammate Hugo Ekitike as he took his seat on the bench after destroying Liverpool in the FA Cup, the maverick midfielder was told in no uncertain terms that wearing a Liverpool jersey in the home dugout was a step too far.

You can see why, except Pep Guardiola has long accepted that it is best to take Cherki as he is to get the best out of him. Kick-ups in the middle of a match may not be for everyone, but they are part of the weaponry that few players in world football are able to wield as effectively.

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As Liverpool found out again on Saturday, Cherki is brilliant. He used his tricks to backheel Matheus Nunes into a good position at 1-0, to help make the second goal for Erling Haaland and then to put Antoine Semenyo through for the third.

There were numerous bits of play that had the crowd gasping or cheering with delight, and each time Cherki would throw his arms up in the air to revel in the reaction and call for more. A true performer who appreciates the recognition but also expects it.

If there was little to be gained other than upsetting Arsenal players with his showboating at the end of the Wembley final, this was the next level: taking Liverpool apart. It was made all the more pointed given the Liverpool team contained the £100m Florian Wirtz that at one point last summer plenty of City fans were raging to have lost out on.

Football is a funny old game, and it is infinitely more fun whenever Cherki is on the pitch. Or the bench, as it turns out. The Frenchman was the spark for sending City back to Wembley again, with James Trafford putting the icing on a particularly tasty cake for City as he denied Mo Salah from the spot on his last appearance for Liverpool.

Haaland scoring his first hat-trick for the club since August 2024 takes him to 33 for the season and adds more momentum to a team that is aiming for a big end to the season. Having downed Arsenal and Liverpool, a trip to Chelsea next week looks more inviting whatever the pressure of the league that is on it.