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If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger, apparently. And in Alberto Moreno’s case, plenty will have been taken from a first brush with English football.

It ended in disappointment, of course. And injury. The Spaniard left the Etihad Stadium limping, and with heavy strapping on his right ankle. He could miss Liverpool’s trip to Tottenham this Sunday.

Also damaged, one suspects, will have been the 22-year-old’s pride. If the Premier League is one big learning curve for a young defender, then he started it at the highest point possible.

There are few more demanding places to make your debut. Manchester City, focused, ruthless and packed with quality, are reigning champions for a reason.

On Monday night, they were determined to target Liverpool’s new-boy, to test him. A graphic shown on Sky Sports after the game showed that 51% of City’s attacks had come down Moreno’s flank.

That’s a huge number, considering the spread of talent Manuel Pellegrini has at his disposal. But the tactic gave City all three of their goals on the night and, for Brendan Rodgers, provided plenty of food for thought.

Moreno, in fairness, was not solely to blame. But he was caught napping by Stevan Jovetic for City’s first and, having tracked Yaya Toure away from goal, then failed to recover his position quickly enough for their second.

The third, created by Jesus Navas for Sergio Aguero, was about a quality pass and a clinical finish as much as anything else.

Harsh lessons. The Premier League is an unforgiving place, and makes no allowances for newcomers. Moreno, you feel, can only benefit from a night such as this.

He will also, one hopes, have taken some positives from his performance too. There was certainly enough there to suggest that Liverpool have acquired themselves a good footballer.

In the first half, with his side the more assured, he looked comfortable in possession, and had both the speed and willingness to get forward and try to influence the game in the final third. One run, in particular, saw him burn Samir Nasri for pace, delivering a low cross that eventually won the Reds a corner.

And even in the second period, as things unravelled, there were flashes of quality. He linked up neatly with Lazar Markovic, another debutant, in almost providing Jordan Henderson with a sight of goal at one end, and denied Edin Dzeko with a smart covering challenge at the other. He is quick, has a good touch and can travel with the ball.

He showed character, too, to continue despite clearly, and painfully, rolling his ankle late on. A small thing, perhaps, but one which will help endear him to Reds supporters.

Make no mistake, Moreno is an important signing for Liverpool. Left back has been a problem position for longer than most would care to remember, and the club worked hard this summer to thrash out a deal with Sevilla for their top target. They know there is plenty more to come from him.

“He’ll learn,” said Rodgers afterwards. “He wasn’t the finished article when we brought him in, we knew there were certain areas we needed to work on, but that’s something our eyes are wide open to.”

One for the long term, certainly, but expect him to improve quickly as he settles into life at Anfield.And expect him to have learnt a lot from his first taste of life at the Premier League’s sharp end.

It won’t kill him, but it might just make him stronger.