What reception awaits Man City at Anfield?
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from BBC or go back to LFC Live.
It was December 2024 when Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side were 2-0 down at Liverpool and the Anfield crowd chanted "you're getting sacked in the morning" towards the opposition boss.No-one truly believed he was going to be given his marching orders but his side were on their way to a remarkable fourth consecutive Premier League defeat.Guardiola could not help but lift six fingers up to the Liverpool crowd in response - representing the six Premier League titles he won with City.Now, each of those successes feels tarnished after an independent commission found the club guilty of the majority of the 115 financial charges the Premier League brought against them.On Friday, current City boss Enzo Maresca said the club's titles are "absolutely not" tainted. Such is the script that a trip to what promises to be a ferocious Anfield - a place Guardiola always described as difficult - is next.City have won five out of five in the Premier League this term and it would be huge if Maresca can maintain that 100 % start.But for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool, this will be an opportunity to truly kickstart their own campaign, fuelled by a backstory like no other."It's an exciting game," said the Reds boss.
"We are playing at home at Anfield against City that is top of the league, they have won all of their games."We will go for the game, they will go for it and it will be quite an open game and we have to be ready. They are very good but we also are very good."It will be the first time since 2015 this clash will have neither Jurgen Klopp or Guardiola on the touchline, but nevertheless, a hostile atmosphere awaits and Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, will be in attendance.Liverpool finished second in the Premier League to Man City in 2013-14 under Brendan Rodgers and again in 2018-19 and 2021-22 when Klopp's side put up 97 and 92 points respectively, but were one shy of Guardiola's City as they were pipped to the title.A verdict on City's appeal awaits.
City insist they are innocent but there will be sections of the Liverpool fanbase and former players and staff that feel aggrieved."You think about the memories and the successes that you were wrongly denied," John Achterberg, who was Liverpool's goalkeeping coach under Rodgers and Klopp, told The Athletic., external"We won one Premier League title [in 2019-20], but it could have been four given that we missed out to City three times by such narrow margins."Iraola added: "The worst thing probably is the uncertainty. Earlier that season in January, it was Klopp's men who ended City's unbeaten league start with a thrilling 4-3 win at Anfield."There's something about it that you will find in no other stadium in the world.