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Cape Town - The champions of England put one of their closest to the sword on Monday night with a ruthless display by their potent strike force.
As it happened: Manchester City v Liverpool
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was full of praise for his two strikers after Stevan Jovetic and Sergio Aguero put Liverpool to the sword at the Etihad.
"Steven worked hard for the whole game also without the ball," Pellegrini said on mcfc.com.
"He was very unlucky last season but we never doubted his quality and I am very happy for him because he deserves to start this season the way he has.
"He is a top player." added the City boss, who then moved on to describe Aguero's impact.
"Aguero is a very special player and he is very important for us," he said.
"It was good his first touch was a goal but it was not a question of luck. It was a great goal.
"He worked hard during the week and it was an important reward.
We are working with Sergio in a mixed pre-season and he is playing some minutes." said the coach of the reigning champions of England.
Losing coach on the night Brendan Rodgers lamented the two soft goals given away by his side but was not overly worried about the result.
"Up until they scored, we were arguably the better side.
"We looked a threat going forward, we had good possession of the ball and tactically we were very good, but we switched off just before half-time and Jovetic finished it very well." said Rodgers on the club's website.
"We started the second half reasonably brightly, but we gave away two poor goals, really.
"They worked the ball well for the second one, but for the third one you've got to get tighter - you've got to get up to the ball and stop the winger turning.
"In fairness to the players, it's still very early on in the season and we're still looking for our fitness and to get up to our level, but they kept going." added the Reds manager.
