Man City vs Liverpool LIVE: Carabao Cup team news, line-ups and ...

Only James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino remain in the Liverpool squad from the last League Cup meeting between the teams, which came in the final almost seven years ago.

“Step by step they come back,” said Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola who talking about reintegrating the players who were at the World Cup.

“Today six players come back and it’s the first time. We are happy they are back and generally they played really well.

“They played a unique experience. If they come back as good as possible they will try to live another experience in four years’ time in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“The players at the World Cup are in better condition than the ones that were here. Sergio Gomez /Erling Haaland /Riyad Mahrez/Cole Palmer they are missing a little bit.

“They competed every day and we had holidays. That’s why it was so important to maintain the rhythm. We had one month off.”

Pep Guardiola makes four changes to the Manchester City team that lined up against Chelsea in the third round of the Carabao Cup. Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake drop into the back line ahead of Ruben Dias and Sergio Gomez whilst Kevin De Bruyne starts in midfield and Erling Haaland takes Julian Alvarez’s spot at the head of the forward line.

There are also a bunch of changes for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Caoimhin Kelleher, Stefan Bajcetic and Fabio Carvalho are the only players to remain in the line-up from the ones that faced Derby County in the previous round. Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez both start for the Reds.

Man City XI: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Mahrez, Haaland, Palmer

Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Milner, Gomez, Matip, Robertson, Bajcetic, Thiago, Elliott, Carvalho, Salah, Nunez

World football’s players’ union Fifpro has warned of the “urgent” need to protect player welfare in a new schedule for the international game.

The threat of player burnout around the winter World Cup in Qatar has highlighted the issues to consider as a new calendar of competitions is negotiated to replace the current deal which ends in the summer of 2024.

Fifpro’s report on player workload ahead of the tournament highlighted the number of matches played by top-level players, many of them back-to-back without a rest period, while the World Cup itself began just seven days after a club game for some Premier League players and ended eight days before the Boxing Day fixtures.

With the World Cup interrupting the middle of the domestic season for the first time, Pep Guardiola says it will be a new experience to see what condition his players are in after such an intense tournament and fast turnaround.

“It is the first time in my career so I don’t know,” he said. “I think all the managers are the same.

“I played sometimes after holidays, a few training sessions and then played Super Cups in Spain for example. I remember they were at the World Cup, had holidays and after two or three days arrived and had the Super Cup.

“They came fresh [in the mind], they know the routines and everything.  In the middle of the season after the World Cup and the good moments and bad moments, I don’t know how they are going to come back. If they will come back fit or fat. We will see.”

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, thinks that the players in his squad who left the Qatar World Cup empty handed will be able to put aside their disappointments and focus on the rest of the season fairly quickly.

“My first feeling is they will be okay,” the City boss said in his pre-match press conference. “What I heard was that the World Cup was perfect because they felt the pressure. but not too much.

“It was not like playing in England or Italy, Qatar was more calm they told me and they were more relaxed. That’s why I think they will be okay.

“People have the ability to forget the good things or the bad things quickly and start again. But at the same time, I don’t know, it’s the first time so we will see.

“I talked with the guys that came back and spoke with them individually to see how they feel. They have started to train and we’ll see how they behave and how they are and after we will take a decision. This is the point.”

A subject went unaddressed in Erik ten Hag’s programme notes. Someone went unmentioned. There was an 81-word paragraph on the following page; on the off-chance anyone who had turned up at Old Trafford under the illusion that Cristiano Ronaldo still played for Manchester United, it alerted them to his departure, if not the circumstances of perhaps the most explosive exit since Roy Keane’s in 2005. The brevity was telling.

It was scarcely a tribute but then perhaps Ronaldo’s final act at United was to mean that, if not quite airbrushed from history, he was certainly consigned to the past. Supporters chorused for the Glazers to go; there were no nostalgic chants of “Viva Ronaldo”. Instead, life after Ronaldo began with an illustration of how United can benefit from the departure of the scorer of 819 goals in the most prolific career of all.

Beating Burnley was expected; home ties against lower-league opponents ought to be won. But liberated individuals and a more fluid team offered a glimpse of the type of football Ten Hag wants. Ronaldo’s second coming became a lost year for United. If, for some, the aim is to rewind the clock to rediscover form they showed for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, now Ten Hag can shape a future.

The two teams have already met twice this season, with Liverpool winning on both occasions, in the FA Community Shield and Premier League.

Will the Reds make it three from three tonight?

Guardiola has won nine major trophies, including four Premier League titles, as City manager but is yet to bring Europe’s top club prize to the Etihad Stadium. The Catalan won the competition twice at Barcelona, failed to do so at Bayern Munich, and finishing runners-up in 2021 is his best effort in six full seasons at City.

Guardiola, who extended his contract to the end of the 2024/25 season last month, insists he is determined to keep on trying.

“It’s not the only one, but I admit it’s the trophy we want, and of course my period here will not be complete if we don’t win it,” said the 51-year-old.