Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gerrard jibes just the slip of the iceberg...
WHEN Steven Gerrard’s slip allowed Manchester City to snatch the League title in 2014, one senior player at the Etihad branded Liverpool “the champions of April”.
It was more than a throwaway crack designed to prompt the widespread laughter that reverberated around City’s dressing room after Manuel Pellegrini’s men had lifted the Premier League trophy.
It illustrated how the relationship between two clubs – once united in their aversion to all things Old Trafford – had eroded.
And while Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have spoken glowingly about the merits of each other’s teams, at times the masks have slipped.
Guardiola felt the prominence of so many former Liverpool players in the media ensured City didn’t get the credit they deserved last season when they claimed the domestic Treble.
This week, Pep branded Sadio Mane a cheat.
Klopp has spoken of City’s unfair financial might. This week he dropped the phrase “tactical fouling” into a press conference.
The duel could be framed as a battle between an old guard and the nouveau riche upstarts who have invaded the top table.
The first shots were arguably fired in the boardrooms.
When the Fenway Sports Group took over at Anfield in 2010, owner John W Henry admitted that he only did so on the understanding that UEFA would frame Financial Fair Play rules to halt owners like Sheikh Mansour.
When City landed a £400million sponsorship jackpot with Etihad Airways, Henry sarcastically Tweeted: “How much was the losing bid?”
Liverpool’s chief executive Ian
Ayre backed up the jibe by calling on UEFA to look into City’s financial affairs.
The irony wasn’t lost on his counterparts in east Manchester. Ayre was presiding over a club that might itself have failed FFP – if it actually had a team good enough to qualify for Europe.
When City travelled to Liverpool in April 2014, Brendan Rodgers’ exciting young side won 3-2, taking a grip on the title race, two days before the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
City officials placed flowers at the memorial outside the stadium and on the pitch. At the final whistle, boss Pellegrini waited in the tunnel to offer his sympathy to Gerrard, after learning that the Liverpool skipper’s 10-year-old cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was one of the 96 who lost their lives.
But then coaches carrying City supporters away from Anfield came under attack from missilethrowing thugs.
More bad blood was spilt when Raheem Sterling forced his £49m transfer from Anfield to City.
Then two seasons ago the clubs were drawn to face each other in the Champions League quarter-finals.
City had flagged to Liverpool and the Merseyside Police that a planned ‘coach welcome’ by home fans before the first leg at Anfield had potential for trouble.
City’s request for a route change was refused – and their state-of-the-art team bus was so badly damaged by bottle-throwing fans that a replacement was needed to take players home.
Anfield chiefs were just as furious when City’s players were filmed singing about Liverpool fans being “battered in the streets” as they celebrated beating the Reds to the title again last May.