Manchester City – Liverpool: Salah returns as Curtis Jones chases a quiet slice of FA Cup history

manchester city – liverpool begins with a familiar stadium routine at the Etihad: a cup quarter-final, a lineup sheet, and one name that changes the temperature of the day. Mohamed Salah is back in Liverpool’s starting XI, his first match since announcing he will leave the club at the end of the season.

What is happening in Manchester City – Liverpool today?

Manchester City host Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final, with both teams arriving under different kinds of pressure. For City, Pep Guardiola’s side are bidding to reach an eighth successive FA Cup semi-final. For Liverpool, it is another attempt to return to the last four for the first time since 2022.

Salah’s return is a central storyline. He starts after recovering from a knock that ruled him out of Liverpool’s last outing at Brighton & Hove Albion prior to the international break. The moment carries added weight because his exit has already been confirmed for the end of the season, turning each appearance into a marker of time remaining.

How does Liverpool’s line-up shape the quarter-final?

Liverpool’s confirmed XI for the tie at Etihad Stadium includes: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Salah, Jones, Ekitike, Gravenberch. The substitutes are Woodman, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Gakpo, Robertson, Frimpong, Nyoni, Morrison, Ngumoha.

Arne Slot makes three changes in total, and the names around Salah point to a side balancing experience with responsibility. Joe Gomez and Curtis Jones are both selected, placing Jones in position to influence the game in open play and in the moments that often decide cup ties.

Jones, speaking to TNT Sports, framed the dressing-room mood through the lens of Salah’s departure. “Speaking as a fan as well, it’s hard to see a player like Mo who came in and gave this club everything, ” Curtis Jones said. He described Salah’s professionalism and recovery habits as lessons he has taken into his own career: “For me as a player I see how hard he’s worked and how he looks after himself and his recovery. I’ve learned a lot from him. ”

He also acknowledged the emotional edge that can sharpen a team’s focus in a knockout competition. “100% and Mo would want that as well, ” Jones said when asked about extra motivation to win a trophy before Salah leaves. “Now we are in the final stages of the season it would be nice to finish on a high. ”

Why do Salah and Curtis Jones matter so much in this tie?

Salah’s return comes against the backdrop of what his Liverpool career has meant. His nine-year spell at Anfield includes two Premier League titles, one Champions League, one FA Cup, two League Cups, the FIFA Club World Cup and a UEFA Super Cup. Individually, he has scored 255 goals in 435 games, won four Premier League golden boots, and has been named PFA player of the season three times.

This season has been more of a struggle for Salah, with 10 goals in 34 appearances, but Liverpool still have two trophies up for grabs. In a quarter-final, even a player short of his peak numbers can tilt a match simply by existing as a threat that changes the way defenders measure risk.

Alongside that, Jones arrives with a quieter storyline that can become loud in one decisive action. He could become the first Liverpool player to score in three successive rounds of the FA Cup since Luis Suarez in 2012. He could also become the first since Robbie Fowler in 1996 to score in rounds four, five and six in the same season.

Those milestones sit inside a broader historical frame: Liverpool’s long FA Cup record and their recent pattern against City in the competition. Liverpool have won each of the last four meetings between the sides in the FA Cup and have not suffered defeat to City in it since 1973. Yet the Etihad has been a more complicated venue for Liverpool overall, with only six wins in 26 visits, 11 losses, and just one victory in their last nine trips.

Even so, Liverpool have often found goals there, scoring in 14 of their last 17 visits across league and cup competitions. The 3-0 Premier League defeat at the Etihad earlier this season stands out as the only time in the last 15 visits that Liverpool have failed to score.

For City, the cup record provides its own sense of inevitability. They have won each of their last 31 FA Cup matches outside of semi-finals and finals since losing to Wigan in the 2017-18 fifth round. A win in this quarter-final would send them into the last four for the eighth successive season, extending a run of seven that is already a competition record.

What are the wider stakes around players’ futures?

The quarter-final also lands amid public uncertainty about elite players’ next steps. Salah’s leaving has been confirmed, and it reshapes how Liverpool supporters and teammates experience each match: not as a routine part of a season, but as a sequence of farewells that still carry competitive demands.

There is also an open question around Manchester City’s future planning. Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, the 29-year-old Spain captain, said he would consider joining Real Madrid: “You can’t turn down the best clubs in the world. ”

Pep Guardiola responded with a mix of hope and resignation, making clear he wants Rodri to stay but will not stop unhappy players from leaving. “There is not one player that will turn [down] the chance to play for [Real] Madrid, ” Guardiola said. “Always my wish is that Rodri could stay as long as possible in this club because he is an incredible, top player but the life of everyone is everyone’s. ”

Placed beside Salah’s confirmed exit, Guardiola’s comments underline a shared modern reality: even the biggest clubs can feel temporary when careers and ambitions move on fixed timelines.

What does this match reveal about the FA Cup’s pull?

In a season’s crowded calendar, the FA Cup still creates a particular kind of urgency—especially at the quarter-final stage, when a single afternoon can redraw expectations. For City, it is a shot at extending a record run toward another semi-final. For Liverpool, it is a chance to move closer to the last four and to give a departing star something that feels like a closing chapter.

Back at pitch level, the storyline remains simple and human: Salah walks out again in Liverpool red, Jones carries the possibility of joining a small historical list, and both teams try to turn narrative into outcome. When the noise rises and the first hard tackle lands, manchester city – liverpool becomes less about everything that surrounds the game and more about who can seize the one moment that does not come back.

Image caption (alt text): Manchester City – Liverpool FA Cup quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium as Mohamed Salah returns to Liverpool’s starting XI.