Liverpool blew away Manchester City with three goals in the first 31 minutes Wednesday to secure a 3-0 first-leg win at a rocking Anfield and close in on a first Champions League semifinal in a decade.

On another European night that will go down in the club's storied lore, Liverpool reduced the best team in England to a rattled wreck as Mohamed Salah — with his 38th goal of the season — Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane all scored in front of The Kop.

The Reds then held firm under incessant second-half pressure to stop City's attacking juggernaut from getting an away goal that would have changed the complexion of the quarterfinal matchup, especially given that Salah hobbled off injured and could be a doubt for next week's second leg at Etihad Stadium.

City's dream of a treble — it has already won the League Cup and could clinch the Premier League on Saturday in record time — might have disappeared in a 19-minute spell where the visitors folded in a red-hot Anfield atmosphere.

Pep Guardiola's decision to drop Raheem Sterling and add an extra body in midfield in Ilkay Gundogan completely backfired, with City lopsided and its four central midfielders seemingly unsure of their roles. Aymeric Laporte — a center back — also looked lost as a makeshift left back, up against Salah.

Only in the 57th minute did Guardiola throw on Sterling, but that might have come too late.

Liverpool, with five titles in the European Cup, have now scored a tournament-high 31 goals this season and was irresistible in the first half. Salah's departure is a potential game-changer, though, and Liverpool did lose 5-0 at City in the Premier League this season.

The atmosphere was heated even before the game as the team bus bringing City's players to Anfield was attacked outside the stadium, with some fans throwing cans and at least one bottle at the windows. Such was the damage that City had to order another bus to take the squad home.

It will be a quiet journey.

A madcap nine-minute spell in a 4-3 loss at Anfield in January cost City its unbeaten start to the Premier League but Guardiola vowed that he wouldn't change his attacking approach for his team's return to a stadium where City has won only once in 37 years.

He did, though. And from the moment Liverpool scored the opening goal, City looked rattled.

A stray pass from Leroy Sane allowed Liverpool to counter through James Milner's pass down the right flank to Salah, who fed Roberto Firmino down the middle. Firmino's shot was blocked by Kyle Walker, but the Brazilian managed to pass the ball across for Salah to send a rising shot into the net.

Oxlade-Chamberlain had his best game for Liverpool since his summer move from Arsenal and he rifled in the second goal in the 21st after referee Felix Brych played the advantage following Vincent Kompany's foul from behind on Firmino.

Guardiola paced his technical area, scratching his head. Kevin De Bruyne barked at his teammates. But worse was to come for City.

Salah had a long-range shot blocked but after the ball came back to him, he sent over a curling cross that just went over Fernandinho's head and was met with a headed finish by Mane.

It threatened to get even uglier for City in the final minutes of the half as they kept getting stretched by Liverpool's forwards, with Nicolas Otamendi having a particularly tough time.

Liverpool didn't want to hear the halftime whistle. And the sight of Salah hobbling off in the 52nd minute with what appeared a left groin injury gave hope to City.

The introduction of Sterling, for Gundogan, meant City reverted to its usual shape but Liverpool's defending was excellent, especially Trent Alexander-Arnold and the oft-maligned Dejan Lovren.

Liverpool last reached the semifinals in 2008, when it lost to Chelsea. The team won the Champions League in 2005 and lost the final in 2007.

2 own goals help Barcelona beat Roma 4-1 in CL quarterfinals

A pair of own goals by Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas helped Barcelona beat Roma 4-1 in the opening leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.

De Rossi's scrambling attempt to cut off a pass by Andres Iniesta for Lionel Messi backfired as the Italy international sliced the ball into the lower corner of Roma's net for 38th-minute opener.

Kostas suffered similar bad luck in the 55th when his clearance of a low cross by Ivan Rakitic hit the post and ricocheted off Barcelona's Samuel Umtiti before finally crossing the goal-line.

Barcelona pressed its advantage and Gerard Pique scored a third goal four minutes later when he only had to tap in the rebound from a save by goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who palmed a shot by Luis Suarez right to the unmarked defender.

Edin Dzeko pulled one back for Roma in the 80th before Suarez scored Barcelona's fourth, breaking his streak of 10 matches without a goal in the competition.

The victory extended Barcelona's unbeaten run in the Champions League to 26 straight home matches, a streak that dates back to September 2013.

The return leg is in Rome next Tuesday.

Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-0 in the night's other match after first-half goals by Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane.

Messi showed no signs of being slowed down by the leg muscle problem that caused him to miss two friendlies for Argentina and be reserved as a substitute at Sevilla on Saturday, when his goal in the 89th-minute secured a 2-2 draw.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde made an unexpected tweak to his lineup, leaving winger Ousmane Dembele on the bench and shifting Sergi Roberto up from right back to play in attack. Roberto's spot was filled by Nelson Semedo, who hadn't played in over a month due to a hamstring problem.

Midfielder Sergio Busquets also returned for Barcelona after being sidelined for three weeks with a fractured bone in his right foot.

Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco picked Lorenzo Pellegrini to replace Radja Nainggolan after the midfielder was ruled unfit to play because of a muscle injury he picked up over the weekend.

Roma, playing in quarterfinals for the first time in a decade, succeeded in disrupting the hosts' ball-possession attack by pressuring up the pitch.

But its sloppy defending either produced or played a direct part in all four of Barcelona goals.

Despite Barcelona missing its precision passing, Messi and Luis Suarez both drew saves from Becker and Rakitic hit the far post with a low cross before the hosts went in front.

Messi had already forced Roma to swarm on several occasions to stop his runs before the visiting defense finally broke when Rakitic intercepted the ball near the box and started the attack that ended De Rossi's costly error.

Messi sped into the area and passed for Iniesta, whose returned pass to the Argentina forward would have left him in good striking position. De Rossi stretched to cut off the pass, only for the tip of his right boot to redirect the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Roma almost caught Barcelona off-guard moments after halftime when forward Diego Perotti headed the ball wide and Umtiti was fortunate not to lose the ball under pressure near his goal.

But the flubbed clearance by Manolas and Becker's poorly executed save ruined its fight back.

Barcelona goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen made two excellent saves before Dzeko struck for Roma after receiving a pass from Perotti.

Suarez scored his first goal in the tournament since March 2017 after a Roma defender tried to intercept a pass, instead leaving the ball for the Uruguay striker to drill home.