Liverpool’s unbeaten start ended with a harsh lesson at Anfield, a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City that changed completely after Ryan Gravenberch’s dismissal.

For more than an hour, this was competitive, tight and largely under control. Liverpool pressed well, carried intensity and matched City physically. Clear chances were limited, which suited the home side. Then came the turning point. Gravenberch collected a second yellow, Liverpool went down to 10 men, and the game was effectively over within minutes.

Erling Haaland struck first, Jeremy Doku followed quickly, and Rayan Cherki added the third. At 11 v 11, Liverpool looked organised. At 10 v 11 against a side of this quality, there was no route back.

Virgil van Dijk’s verdict was straightforward. “I think the first half was good on our side, we showed a lot of intensity. We could have done maybe better on some occasions where we got on the break with them. I don’t think there were massive chances, to be fair, but I think we showed that we wanted to win. We had a lot of intensity; that was the bare minimum.”

His summary of the second half was equally clear. “Second half, we tried to do the same. Unfortunately, the red card obviously changed a big part of the game, especially when you concede that quickly afterwards as well.”

Van Dijk also suggested frustration with the officiating, particularly around the consistency of yellow cards. He stopped short of making it the full excuse, which is correct. Liverpool’s real problem was what happened after the sending-off. Once the structure broke, City punished them with the efficiency top sides usually do.

On Gravenberch, he said: “Probably, yeah. But the matter of fact is he gets a second yellow. I think it was interesting there was also a couple of occasions where players were asking for different yellow cards and we had one in the first minute that was cautioned by it, Ronald Araujo, and others weren’t cautioned. The matter of fact is we end up with 10 men and then concede pretty quickly after that. Then it becomes a very difficult game against them again.”

Liverpool: Alisson 6/10, Conor Bradley 6/10, Ibrahima Konate 6/10, Virgil van Dijk 7/10, Andy Robertson 6/10, Ryan Gravenberch 4/10, Alexis Mac Allister 6/10, Dominik Szoboszlai 6/10, Luis Diaz 6/10, Cody Gakpo 5/10, Darwin Nunez 5/10.