Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool: Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane at the double for Pep Guardiola's side after Sadio Mane red card sees hosts run riot

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Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson had a lucky escape from serious injury after being kicked in the face by Sadio Mane during his side's 5-0 win over Liverpool on Saturday.

Ederson attempted to head away a long through-ball but as Mane tried to get a touch on it, he caught the keeper on the left side of his face.

The Liverpool forward was sent off and Ederson, after being treated on the pitch for eight minutes, returned to the dug-out following more treatment at City's on-site medical centre. 

Sergio Aguero rounds Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal to give Manchester City the lead at the Etihad Stadium

The Argentine striker celebrates with Gabriel Jesus after latching on to Kevin De Bruyne's through ball to score

Liverpool forward Sadio Mane catches City goalkeeper Ederson with his right boot when contesting a ball over the top

The incident left the Brazilian goalkeeper prone on the Etihad pitch after feeling the full force of the Senegal star's foot

Mane begins to protest his innocence as he rises to his feet, something his opponent cannot do after the collision

Jon Moss took his time to make his decision before brandishing the red card to the Liverpool forward

The challenge left Ederson needing attention from City club doctors, and he was taken off the field of play on a stretcher

But he returned to the stands before the end of the game and suffered no broken bones following the challenge

PLAYER RATINGS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE 

 MANCHESTER CITY (3-5-2): Ederson 8 (Bravo 37, 6); Danilo 6; Stones 6; Otamendi 5; (Mangala, 71, 6); Walker 6.5; Silva 7; Fernandinho 7; De Bruyne 8.5; Mendy 6; Aguero 8; Jesus 7.5; (Sane, 57, 8)

Subs not used: Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Delph

Yellow cards: Otamendi, Fernandinho 

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Mignolet 7; Alexander-Arnold 5.5, Matip 5, Klavan 5.5, Moreno 6; Can 6.5 Henderson 6, Wijnaldum 5.5 (Milner 59, 6); Salah 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 45, 6) Firmino 6 (Solanke, 67, 6) Mane 5

Subs not used: Karius, Lovren, Gomez, Sturridge

Yellow card: Alexander-Arnold

Red card: Mane 

Referee: Jonathan Moss 7 

Attendance: 54,172 

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Manchester City dominated after Liverpool were reduced to 10 men and they strung together 20 passes for Gabriel Jesus' goal. For more stats, visit our exclusive MATCH ZONE service.

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City manager Pep Guardiola and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp both absolved Mane of any blame. Guardiola added: 'Ederson hasn't broken the bone, which is so important. I don't know if he will be more beautiful after that. But hopefully he can come back as soon as possible. Maybe he will not play in the next games but he's OK.'

Klopp said: '[Mane] is shocked about the situation and for sure also about the decision. Of course, I think everyone knows Sadio did not even see the goalie — there wasn't a second that he was looking at the goalie.'

It would be too much to suggest that this was the day that Manchester City's title challenge fully ignited. In fact, Klopp, enduring the worst defeat of his short Liverpool career, called it about right. 

'If City takes too much confidence from this game, they would make a mistake,' he said. 'And if we lose too much confidence from this game we would make a mistake.'

He was just about justified because of the obvious extenuating circumstance on which the game pivoted, the awful error of judgement from Sadio Mane, whose 37th minute boot to the face of City goalkeeper Ederson became the defining moment of a much-anticipated match.

From thereon in, one-nil down and with just ten men to play with after Mane's expulsion, Liverpool's fate looked sealed. So it proved and judgement on City will be reserved until they face a sterner challenge from eleven men. Events yesterday played to their attacking strengths and hid their defensive weaknesses. 

Indeed, if you wished to pick holes, you would point to the fact that prior to that 37th minute turning point, Mane and Mohamed Salah had skipped past City challenges enough times to cause Pep Guardiola alarm.  

The hosts took advantage of the extra eight minutes added on at the end of the first half, with Gabriel Jesus heading home

The Brazilian put the finishing touch on the end of a 20-pass team move as City began to dominate with their man advantage

After the break, the Brazilian grabbed his second after some unselfish play from strike partner Aguero

Jesus goes for his trademark telephone celebration, which is a nod to the relationship he has with his mum

But given an opportunity to show their attacking prowess, which is considerable, they took it. Kevin de Bruyne ran the game; Sergio Aguero flourished; Gabriel Jesus scored twice as did Leroy Sane, who added a glorious footnote with two superb goals.

'Of course it's easier against ten men,' said Guardiola. 'But we read the situation well. And for a long long time (since August 2014) City was not able to beat Liverpool. Today we able to do so, so we're happy for that. Obviously there is room for improvement defensively but offensively that is a big step forward for us.'

City remain, as they were last season, an extraordinary attacking phenomenon when given the chance. All of their front players shone but none more so than Kevin de Bruyne. Guardiola just puffs his cheek in admiration when the Belgian is referenced. 'The dimensions for that guy are unexpactable,' he said, adding a new but excellent word to the English language.

'He's intelligent. You have to say one instruction and he understands immediately. He produces huge number of passes, a huge number of assists. He is a complete, complete player. We are a lucky club.'  

But he will know too that Nicolas Otamendi and Benjamin Mendy were frequently exposed before the sending off. John Stones, too, looked unsure. Klopp knew, the sending-off aside, that this was an opportunity missed.

'I told the boys at half time I thought if it had been completely spot on – and I know it's difficult after international break – that we should have been in the lead,' said Klopp. He was right. Salah's miss when put clean through by Mane on 31 minutes was the key moment. But there should have been more chances, given the ease with which Liverpool were getting in behind City. 

Leroy Sane appeared off the bench in the second half and stole in at the front post to send a low effort beyond Mignolet

The German international wheels away, arms spread open to celebrate the fourth goal as City ran rampant

There was time enough left at the end of the game for the substitute to curl home his second, and City's fifth of the match 

'I know we can be really good, and I will try to get the boys to ignore the result today but not the mistakes we did. One-nil down against City is not a good place to be but we do it in training where with seven players against 14 they cannot create chances if you are really in the right spaces. But we didn't do it for the second goal. And two-nil down against City with ten men is not really a cool situation. It was hard lesson today. I know the boys well enough to know they will learn from it.' 

However, Klopp's assertion that he was 'not concerned in the long term' was more questionable. With Dejan Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne out, the latter long term, they turned to Roger Klavan and Trent Alexander Arnold. Neither was good enough. And unless £35m was spent on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to play at right back, that problem won't get solved soon. As with City, no-one doubts the attacking qualities; it's the defence which is flawed.

Even with eleven men, Liverpool conceded their early momentum in ridiculous circumstances. City simply picked up a loose ball from a Simon Mignolet clearance and Fernandinho, with a crucial challenge on Georginio Wijnaldum, helped it on to De Bruyne, who exposed a stretched Liverpool back four with an exquisite through ball for Aguero, who swept past Mignolet to score.

The Salah chance came on 31 minutes yet the defining moment of the half came on 37 minutes, when a long ball from Joel Matip exposed City, allowing Mane to race clean through on goal. With the ball bouncing in no man's land between keeper and striker, Ederson bravely rushed towards it and headed away. Mane, his foot already raised dangerously high to meet the ball, instead met the goalkeeper's chin. 

Mane and Liverpool were on top in the opening stages, with John Stones and the rest of his defence called into action 

But by the end of the encounter at the Etihad Stadium, manager Jurgen Klopp cut a defected figure as he left the field

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his Liverpool debut as a half-time substitute but was unable to make a real impact

It looked awful and clearly merited the expulsion it received. Ederson was treated for eight minutes and left the game in a neck brace before the game could resume, with Claudio Bravo returning to the fray.

The effect of the extra man was pretty much immediate. Three minutes before half time, De Bruyne bewitched Trent Alexander-Arnold with a hint of a Cryuff turn to cross for Jesus, completely unmarked, ten yards out, to head in.  

The challenge became steeper still on 54 minutes with a Liverpool long ball intercepted and their defence exposed within seconds. Fernandinho made the pass, which evaded Emre Can and found Aguero. Clean through on goal, somewhat unnecessarily but with admirable generosity, he squared the ball to Jesus, who made it 3-0.

On 71 minutes De Bruyne received the ball from the back three played a crisp pass to Sane, on for Jesus, who exchanged passes with Mendy before finishing cleanly from close range. And Sane saved the best for last. Twenty yards out, with 90 minutes gone, he eyed space to the right of Mignolet and curled a delicious strike into the far corner. It was a fitting finale. 

Mohamed Salah's pace caused Manchester City real trouble in the first half but he was replaced at the interval

Nicolas Otamendi struggled as part of the Manchester City back three during the first half of the contest