Man City’s 114-rule verdict casts shadow over Liverpool rivalry
Liverpool’s meeting with Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday arrives amid renewed scrutiny of the rivalry that defined much of the previous decade. City have been found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules, a decision they strongly reject and have appealed, placing fresh attention on the titles, points totals and narrow margins that separated the two clubs under Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
What changed for the club
The commission’s ruling has altered the backdrop to a contest once presented as English football’s modern standard-bearer. In April 2022, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher argued that Liverpool and City had produced the country’s greatest and most intense rivalry, with the leading sides in England also setting the global benchmark under two elite coaches.
The scale of their league consistency supported that case. Between 2018 and 2022, City collected 358 points from 456 available, while Liverpool took 357. Their 2018-19 title battle was decided by one point, with John Stones’ January 2019 goal-line intervention against Sadio Mané at the Etihad preventing the ball from crossing by 11.7 millimetres.
City’s latest legal position has prompted a different question: whether the competitive era should be reassessed if the appeal does not succeed. The club maintain that their football achievements should stand apart from the case. The possible penalties, however, remain broad if the verdict is upheld.
Klopp, now Germany head coach, has declined to revisit Liverpool’s past title near-misses. He said last week that he retains great respect for Guardiola and City’s football, adding that he would wait to see whether sanctions follow and was content with Liverpool’s own achievements.
That was more measured than his farewell remarks in May 2024, when he jokingly told supporters he would attend a bus parade if one were arranged after discussion of City’s 115 charges. Klopp has nevertheless consistently praised Guardiola, calling him the finest manager he had faced in 2019.
- Guardiola has won 20 major trophies as City manager; Klopp secured eight during his Liverpool spell.
- Across Germany and England, Guardiola and Klopp met 30 times, with Klopp winning 12 and Guardiola 11.
- Bernardo Silva, who ended his nine-year City career last season, described Liverpool as City’s clear principal rivals during his time in Manchester.
Competition context
Guardiola has previously argued that City and Liverpool drove the Premier League’s standards upwards. City reached 100 points in 2017-18 and 98 in 2018-19 before Liverpool posted 99 in 2019-20, setting a level that other sides had to chase.
Those achievements are now viewed alongside allegations that City inflated income by more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018. The issue also raises hypothetical questions about City’s ability to recruit, including the £43 million signing of Silva from AS Monaco and Guardiola’s appointment in 2016. No definitive alternative history can be established, but the Premier League landscape could have looked markedly different without the alleged rule breaches.
Andy Robertson, who left Liverpool for Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, said players should not be held responsible in such cases. For many Liverpool supporters, though, the anger is tied to results that cannot be replayed.
Liverpool finished one point behind City twice in Klopp’s reign, enduring final-day waits for a City mistake that never arrived. There is also a longer source of frustration: Brendan Rodgers’ side lost the 2013-14 title by two points to Manuel Pellegrini’s City, with opposition fans still invoking Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea.
Yet there is pride as well as resentment around Liverpool’s recent era. Neil Atkinson wrote on Sept. 30 that supporters had watched the greatest Liverpool side in the club’s history and that his admiration for Klopp’s team had only grown over time. City’s challenge, in that reading, also helped push Liverpool to exceptional levels.
What is scheduled next
Liverpool host City at Anfield on Sunday, with attention likely to extend well beyond the match itself. Andoni Iraola is tasked with using the emotional weight around the occasion as he attempts to end Enzo Maresca’s perfect Premier League record as City boss.
The importance of the result in the final table cannot yet be measured, particularly while City’s appeal and the prospect of sanctions remain unresolved. What is certain is that Anfield will stage the next meeting in a rivalry whose sporting legacy is now inseparable from the questions surrounding it.
