It was art. It was crazy. It was beautiful. Guardiola’s order against Klopp’s chaos provides an instant classic
WHEN they talk about the many times that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola faced each other in the Premier League, they will reminisce about the last of their battles most rapturously of all.
They will talk about a squally March afternoon on Merseyside, when a bitterly cold wind blew in off the River Mersey, and they will say that for the two greatest managers of their era, this was their masterpiece.
It was an epic, an instant classic. Liverpool played with such a level of intensity that Guardiola likened much of the second half to facing a tsunami. It finished 1-1 but could have been 5-5. It had a first half when City were untouchably elegant and a second half when Liverpool played like men possessed and overran last season’s Treble winners.
It was order against chaos. It was relentless and breathless, with chance after chance after chance. The second half, Klopp said, was the best his Liverpool team had ever played against City.
The game had everything. It had the imperiousness of Virgil van Dijk, the beauty of Kevin De Bruyne’s passing, the irrepressibility of Luis Diaz and the composure of Rodri. It was a passion play. It was a chess game. It was art. It was crazy and it was beautiful.
It was Guardiola’s order, his lovingly, meticulously curated order against Klopp’s chaos, his frantic, gut-churning, irresistible chaos. It was scrapes and near misses. It was shots against the woodwork. It was a magnificent manifestation of the managers’ philosophies. Either side might have won, so perhaps it was fitting that neither side did.
The best 1-1 draw you will ever witness left Arsenal top of the Premier League with 10 games to go, but as Klopp wrapped Guardiola in a hug at the final whistle and the two men smiled at the spectacle they had witnessed, we smiled with them. And, in that moment, which team was top of the table did not seem to matter.
Klopp may be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season but after this, another match played with several star players absent, when he again summoned something superhuman from his team, only a fool would bet against him adding to the collection of trophies he has already amassed in his years in the English game.
Equally, even if City looked thoroughly rattled for much of the second half, even if they were fortunate to escape with a draw, even if Guardiola had to take De Bruyne off to try to stop the flood, only a fool would bet against Guardiola emerging as the master of everything he surveys once again when our spring starts to bleed into summer.
‘Whatever the result,’ Klopp had said before the match, ‘I don’t think anybody should open the bottles of champagne.’ The result vindicated him. Let’s leave the champagne for those who were fortunate enough to have seen what we saw and hold it as a cherished memory.
City started brilliantly. They passed in a blur — Rodri to De Bruyne to Phil Foden, bursting into the box before he was stopped by a clinical intervention from Van Dijk, the man of the match.
A minute later, Erling Haaland and De Bruyne combined to find Julian Alvarez, whose fierce shot was smothered by Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Still City poured forward. De Bruyne was caught between chipping for goal and crossing when Alvarez found him in space in the box. De Bruyne stung the hands of Kelleher with a rising drive. Foden made Joe Gomez look like he was in treacle. Anfield booed as City dominated.
When Liverpool fashioned their first attack it was through young Conor Bradley, who has been such a revelation since he came in at right back. He turned Nathan Ake inside out and then fizzed a cross into the six-yard box that was begging for a final touch. There was no one there to provide it.
City targeted Liverpool’s left flank, where Gomez struggled to keep Foden in check, and it was from one of their incursions there that the visitors took the lead midway through the half with a set-piece straight off the training ground.
CITY won a corner, De Bruyne arrowed it to the near post, Ake manoeuvred Alexis Mac Allister out of the way and John Stones peeled away from Darwin Nunez before forcing the ball past Kelleher from point-blank range.
Liverpool should have equalised just after the half-hour. Harvey Elliott wriggled free on the Liverpool right and drifted a lovely cross into the City box where Dominik Szoboszlai rose unmarked to meet it eight yards out. The crowd hushed expectantly, but the Hungary midfielder headed high over the bar.
The game could not catch its breath and the eye dared not leave it. It was mesmerising. Seven minutes before half-time, it got a clash of the titans.
Haaland was played through with only Van Dijk between him and Kelleher. He took him on, weaving one way then the other, but Van Dijk stayed close enough to him that Haaland’s shot, when it came, lacked power and Kelleher saved comfortably.
Liverpool missed half-chances. Bradley squared the ball when he might have shot, Diaz brought a save from Ederson, Szoboszlai shot just wide and it seemed the home side’s lack of ruthlessness might cost them.
That changed two minutes after half-time when Ake left a backpass criminally short, Nunez got to it first and was kicked into the air by Ederson as he rushed out to try to clear it. Liverpool wanted a red card but referee Michael Oliver only showed a yellow.
Mohamed Salah was on the bench, so Mac Allister stepped up to take it. If anyone worried about the World Cup winner’s nerve, they need not have done.
He smashed the penalty high to Ederson’s right, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
Ederson had injured himself when he wiped out Nunez and five minutes later, he sat down in the City box and signalled he had to come off.
By now, the Anfield choir was in full voice. They sang about ‘Stevie Heighway on the wing’ and roared their encouragement as Ederson was replaced in goal by Stefan Ortega.
City tried to rally. De Bruyne played in Foden, who tried to drill the ball under Kelleher, but the keeper blocked it.
Then Liverpool broke. Bernardo Silva tried to hack down Diaz but could not get close enough. Diaz advanced. He played a one-two with Nunez and was clean through but the ball ran away from him.
THE pace of the game was absurd and the tempo was unrelentingly intense. Salah came off the bench. Straight away, he played a diamond-edged pass through the heart of the City defence to Diaz. He was one-on-one with Ortega, but hit his shot hopelessly wide.
A minute later, Diaz was clear again. This time, he delayed his shot and the ball was taken off his toe. Anfield reeled in disbelief.
Twenty minutes from the end, Guardiola took De Bruyne off. The Belgian shook his hand and then remonstrated with him, pointing towards the pitch as if he had seen a flaw that had not been addressed. De Bruyne continued to make his point with one of the manager’s assistants.
Nunez had a shot saved at point-blank range by Ortega. Kelleher launched himself at a cross from Ake and inadvertently punched the ball straight at Foden. It cannoned off his arm and bounced off the top of the crossbar into the Kop.
When Nunez was substituted, he walked off shaking his head. No one wanted to turn their back on this match.
Two minutes from time, City substitute Jeremy Doku cut in from the left and curled a shot past Kelleher. Time stood still as the ball rolled against the foot of the post and bounced straight back into Kelleher’s arms.
There were eight minutes of stoppage time. Doku was lucky not to concede a penalty when he tried to clear a bouncing ball and planted his studs straight into Mac Allister’s chest.
‘What must you have had for lunch if you think that is not clear and obvious?’ Klopp said with a wry smile afterwards. ‘But nothing I say will change the decision. I might be leaving, but at least I have learned that.’