At referee Dodd's whistle, Su Dong quickly passed the ball to Sánchez from the center circle. Sánchez immediately sent it back to Kompany on the defensive line.
That was Man City's strategy at the start: settle things down.
Liverpool's attacking trio immediately pressed toward Man City's defense, but the midfield and back line stayed concentrated around the halfway line and their own half, showing Liverpool's caution.
Only three players joined the press up front, so its effectiveness was obvious—it was basically impossible to win the ball back. Especially with Gerrard failing to push forward along with Busquets dropping back, Suárez was forced to shuttle back and forth between Man City's two center-backs and Busquets.
After doing that twice, Suárez gave up as well.
Damn, the match had only just begun, and they were already making people run all over the place. Was that really fair?
The two wingers, Bellamy and Downing, also eased off their pressing and chose to drop back, moving closer to midfield.
There were no easy games in a final. Both teams had started cautiously, probing their opponents.
Man City patiently controlled the ball and the tempo, in no hurry to attack. Liverpool focused on disrupting play up front and defending through the middle and back, unwilling to commit too many men to pressing in case it weakened their defensive level.
It was not hard to see from this that Dalglish was deeply wary of Man City.
The first shot of the match came in the opening minute. After receiving a pass from Toni Kroos, Su Dong shook off Skrtel while controlling the ball, then unleashed a fierce shot from around twenty-five meters out.
He had failed to keep the shot down, and it flew slightly high.
Su Dong had taken that shot mainly to lift his