CLASH PROVES PREM IS Sit back, relax and enjoy the fireworks WORLD’S BEST
MANCHESTER will feel like the centre of the footballing world this afternoon when two giants collide at The Etihad.
And so it should, too, because when it comes to Manchester City and Liverpool, lovers of the national game have never had it so good.
The coming together of two extraordinary teams will be a moment to savour and treasure.
So, appreciate the occasion, soak up the moment and drink in how fortunate the Premier League is to have not one, but two elite sides and managers of astonishing class.
It begs the question, what will the footballing landscape on these shores look like when Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are no longer around?
While Sheikh Mansour continues to own City, the reigning champions will continue to spend huge sums of cash on some of the greatest talents on the planet.
However, this will not guarantee them the same sort of success the club has become accustomed to under the management of Guardiola.
Having money to spend is one thing but what you do with it is clearly another matter altogether.
Just ask Manchester United supporters, who have seen their club and four different managers plough through almost a billion pounds between them in the last decade and not come anywhere near to winning the title.
Down the East Lancs Road, meanwhile, Klopp might have spent less but has done so with equal wisdom to Guardiola – and the end product has been just as sensational.
There is little to separate these two sides and these two managers, who have now forged a modern-day rivalry akin to the one Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene
Wenger once indulged in and which left neutrals spellbound.
The feeling is that Guardiola will remain at City until he achieves the “Holy Grail’” of winning the Champions League, before taking another sabbatical from the game.
Klopp, meanwhile, did this in 2019 when he led Liverpool to European glory in Madrid for a sixth time and has also ended the club’s 30-year wait to be once again be crowned league champions.
His legend is secured, although should he achieve the unthinkable Quadruple this season, his statue will be commissioned and his work will be done.
Guardiola and Klopp invest so much into what they do that there’s the inevitable danger of burnout, and the time will soon come when both of them feel the need for a break and new challenge.
Which makes it all the more important that we cherish these two teams being around at the same time while we still can.
Since 2015, City and
Liverpool have won 15 trophies between them. They have shared the last four titles since Guardiola arrived in Manchester in 2016 and the last five League Cups.
Back in 2019 we sat back and watched these two scrap it out in a thrilling duel for the title.
We worried it might have been a one-off and
that such a fight would be impossible to replicate – but now it’s happening all over again.
Like Grand National hopefuls charging down the final furlong at Aintree, City and Liverpool are separated by just a point heading into today’s epic showdown.
Picking a winner feels impossible and choosing who will produce the defining moment is futile when we have a galaxy of superstars including Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah, Phil Foden and Sadio Mane, to name but a few, on the pitch at the same time.
If one game or moment defines why the Premier League is the best one in the world, then it’s this one. In Germany, Spain and France there is no such competition as the usual suspects are once again running clear at the top of their respective tables.
City and Liverpool have been so good this season that Chelsea, the current European champions, are just about making up the numbers towards the top end of the league table. Finishing second is not an option for City or Liverpool but it will have to be for one of them and this weekend we will get to see who this is likely to be come the end of the season.
So buckle up, hold on tight and enjoy the ride, because we don’t know how long it’s going to last.