Why Liverpool v City can be English football’s new great rivalry
ANFIELD, TOMORROW, 4.30
Manchester City versus Liverpool has the potential to be the defining fixture in the Premier League season for the next few years. Think of Manchester United against Arsenal, or the epic European meetings between Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp could follow a similar path.
Last season’s meetings showcased the possibilities. Liverpool got under City’s skin like none of the other top six, especially when knocking them out of the Champions League. As Guardiola revealed in the recent fly-on-thewall documentary following City’s title season, Liverpool – or, in particular, Liverpool’s front three – worried him. “They scare me. They’re dangerous,” he confided to his assistants.
The difference between the teams is that Liverpool are a threat to City, whereas City are the biggest obstacle to Liverpool and everyone else’s success.
City have delivered, Liverpool are trying to. The clubs go into tomorrow’s game level on points, but City are well ahead in trophies in the modern era.
For the competition between them to truly get to the next level, Liverpool must beat City regularly and secure the titles at their expense. We need to see trophies at both ends.
Like all the best rivalries, hostility breeds when one side have what the other wants. On the field, City have everything Liverpool crave. I suspect City, and certainly Guardiola, would like a little more of what Liverpool have off it.
Liverpool envy the success City are enjoying – specifically the accumulation of titles. As Guardiola admitted last season, City do not have that European heritage that galvanises Anfield on Champions League nights. Because of Liverpool’s history and worldwide following – built on European Cup success – they tend to get more media coverage when going close to winning a major competition than City do for winning them. Globally, Liverpool are bigger. City can only hope to match that over generations rather than a few years.
There are different elements to the greatest rivalries, but one of the most provocative is familiarity. When you are playing the same team on a regular basis, as I experienced with Liverpool and Chelsea, it fuels animosity. Over three years when the Mourinho benitez contest was at its peak, we played Chelsea 16 times, including a League Cup final, FA Cup semi-final and two Champions League semi-finals.
Chelsea became the No1 enemy, the game igniting more passion than when we played Manchester United or Everton.
Much was made of the differences between the clubs, but a lot was overplayed to build hype. Although contrasting personalities, Rafa and Jose were cut from the same cloth tactically. They emerged as the top European managers together, moving to England in the same summer. Mourinho could always claim the upper hand because of Premier League success, Benitez because of the unexpected nature of the 2005 Champions League win without Chelsea’s financial resources.
Although Liverpool have spent more money recently – and there is more respect shown between Guardiola and Klopp – there are echoes of this between the current top two. The managers are pioneers for the attacking football most admired and copied by emerging coaches. They have come to the Premier League together having already fought each other in the Bundesliga.
Klopp’s record against Guardiola is as good as anyone in the world, with seven wins and two draws in their 14 meetings. This is because of Klopp’s courage, one of the few who will not compromise his attacking principles against Pep.
There are other parallels between the City-liverpool and Chelsealiverpool relationship. Just like Chelsea felt they could
Hostility breeds when one side have what the other want
demonstrate the changing balance of power in England by targeting Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard, City took one of Liverpool’s best players when they signed Raheem Sterling.
Liverpool fans love nothing more than being perceived as street fighters against richer, emerging clubs. Much of this might be rooted in myth – we had great teams and players under Benitez and Klopp’s team have been expensively assembled – but Liverpool supporters have heard the jibes about being irrelevant during their 28 years without a league title.
Amid all that, the club have retained an ability to prove rumours of their demise greatly exaggerated, bloodying the nose of the recently established superpowers. That is why these scalps have meant so much – played in a generally hostile atmosphere – even if success has been limited to cup competitions.
That could change this season, but – as a Liverpool supporter – my fear remains that Klopp will build the best team Anfield has had since 1990 in an era of City domination.
There is still a massive financial gulf between the clubs, regardless of Klopp’s spending in the past 12 months. City have unlimited wealth, while Liverpool’s huge outlay on Virgil van Dijk and Alisson came after the sale of a prized asset, Philippe Coutinho.
If Guardiola was not at City, I would be confident of Liverpool winning the title. Unlike their title defences under Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini, City have a manager who will come to be regarded the greatest of his generation and maybe all time.
When Guardiola came into the Sky studio at the end of last season, he said players would hate him this year because of his extra demands. Part of the motivation is coming from Liverpool’s emergence.
But the pressure is all on Liverpool to stay with City and prevent another procession. If Liverpool take four points from City this season, they have a chance of going the distance. If City take four from Liverpool, they will not be caught.
Liverpool cannot rely on anyone else stopping City. They must help themselves. If they fall a few points behind, it looks ominous. A City win at Anfield would undermine the idea of the next great Premier League rivalry evolving this season. Instead, we would be talking about another one-horse race.