The win sees them go three points ahead of Manchester United in the Premier League title race, though Gareth Barry's second-half sending-off provided the one sour note. Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and James Milner, from the penalty spot, were the scorers for City. Man-of-the-match Kompany told Sky Sports 1: "This is massive for us. We were incredibly efficient and it's a great win. "It is one of the top six teams out of the way and now we know United and the other teams have to play each other." City manager Roberto Mancini was also happy with the result, especially after his side had been in action just two days ago - a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. "This was a very important win," he said. "It was a difficult game because Liverpool is a fantastic team and also because Liverpool played four days ago and we played two days ago. "This was terrible for us." The Italian also apologised for brandishing an imaginary yellow card on the touchline when Martin Skrtel gave away the penalty with a foul on Toure. "In the moment maybe I did that because I was not happy with the referee, but I made a mistake," he added. Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, who side were without star man Luis Suarez for the first of an eight-game ban they have decided not to appeal against, wants his side to learn lessons from City. "If you want to be a successful team, and they are one, you have got to be clinical. We've got to get that into our make-up. "Tonight we never had that. It's a lesson learned for us. We have to take it on the chin and make sure we don't repeat it."
