Klopp is back down to earth ..with a bang

FIREWORKS went off outside the Etihad and there’s a good chance they were let off by a mischievous Liverpool fan.

But the Reds’ title party had barely fizzled out before they were brought back down to earth with a bang last night.

The Merseysiders got a guard of honour from Manchester City to mark them taking the title from Pep Guardiola’s side.

But their first game as champions will only serve to be a reminder how hard it is going to be for Jurgen Klopp and Co to keep hold of the trophy they haven’t even got their hands on yet.

Klopp reminisced before this game about his back-to-back Bundesliga triumphs with Borussia Dortmund – but he also warned about how that fired up Bayern Munich.

City will surely have a bonfire lit under them now, too.

Guardiola might have looked, at times, like he was losing interest in the City project this term as they fell further and further behind.

However, he will surely be inspired to take down the side who are now their fiercest rivals on the pitch.

After an impressive opening 10 minutes, the whole Liverpool side started to look like their title party went on all week.

Many of Klopp’s side are teetotal, but this was some hangover, considering they had only lost once before this in the league.

The fireworks didn’t deliver the spectacular show hoped for by the cheeky Liverpool supporter.

And Klopp didn’t get a champion performance from his side, which has been explosive all season.

But the German was aware of a backlash coming from the recently dethroned kings of England.

And this will at least remind everyone else that City will not be going away – and Liverpool will have to keep improving to stay on top.