Mirror Football
October 11, 2026
There was never a chance Liverpool supporters wouldn't be looking back in anger. Turning Anfield into a cauldron of seething hatred for a few spiteful hours.
Enzo Maresca had ordered his Manchester City players to block out the noise. Which is much easier said than done at a football ground like this one. At the best of times, Anfield is intimidating. At the worst of times, it can leave visiting footballers crushed and exposed.
It once happened to the great Lionel Messi during a Champions League semi final between Liverpool and Barcelona. And City were heading into the lion's den at a time of full blown crisis. Few places feel the injustice of what City have been found guilty of, more than the red half of Merseyside.
In two of the seasons City won the title under Pep Guardiola, they did so by just a single point ahead of Liverpool. Liverpool supporters believe those titles now belong to them.
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And reminders of City's cheating in terms of breaking Premier League spending rules, were right there for all those in light blue to see. For one game, they had become part of the Anfield scenery.
One banner unfurled in the far corner of The Kop read: "A Generation of Supporters Cheated." While another one said: "After All You Really Robbed Us All".
Weeks of talks between various authorities had gone into planning how this game could take place without serious incident. The hatred runs deep between these two clubs. Something history has shown us all. But City overcame the first hurdle of getting into the ground without coming under attack, like they did back in 2018 ahead of a Champions League clash. But more challenges lay ahead.
This was an afternoon for cool heads in a white-hot atmosphere. It felt like Liverpool had the support of an entire football nation behind them. Not to mention the rest of the league. While every free kick City got from referee Chris Kavanagh, was met with howling derision. But as half time approached, Anfield had almost been reduced to a relative hush.
Maresca's men had drawn the sting from the place. Eliot Anderson indulged in a running battle with Alexis Mac Allister, determined to show he wouldn't be intimidated. Marc Guehi was colossal in the City defence, while Enzo Fernandez appeared to lap up the hatred being thrown at him each time he took a corner.
Perhaps home supporters were starting to realise their victims couldn't be bullied? Like human sponges, City had absorbed whatever had been thrown at them. Noel Gallagher had made the short trip to Liverpool and stood in the away end. And what he witnessed was a masterclass in mental strength, from a team under the microscope like never before.
A group of players who have needed to find new levels of defiance and thicker skins. And so it was left to Erling Haaland to help provide his side with the last laugh. Kick-starting what felt like an avalanche of goals, to leave Liverpool buried. Anfield fell into a stunned silence. It was now hosting a wake for its own team.
Much has changed for City and English football in the last fortnight or so. But then again some things haven't at all. City have finished the weekend where they started it. Top of the table looking down the rest. For the time being, at least.
Which, for the rest of their rivals, might just be one of the hardest things of all to stomach. Because no-one still knows what any of this is all going to mean.
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