It was December 2024 when Pep Guardiola Manchester City the team was down 2-0 Liverpool and the Anfield crowd chanted “you will be sacked tomorrow morning” at the opposition leader.
No one really believed he would receive his marching orders, but his team were on their way to a fourth successive Premier League defeat.
Guardiola couldn’t help but raise six fingers to the Liverpool crowd in response, representing the six Premier League titles he won with City.
Now, some may question each of those successes after an independent commission found the club guilty of the majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League.
On Friday, current City boss Enzo Maresca said the club’s titles were “absolutely not” tainted. But next Sunday, he and his players will face their new normal.
The scenario is such that a trip to what promises to be a fierce Anfield – a place Guardiola has always described as difficult – is next.
City have won five out of five in the Premier League this season and it would be huge if Maresca could maintain that 100% start.
But for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool, it will be an opportunity to truly launch their own campaign, fueled by a story like no other.
“It’s an exciting match,” said the Reds coach. “We are playing at home at Anfield against City who are top of the league, they have won all their games.
“We are going to play the match, they are going to do it and it will be a fairly open match and we have to be ready. I hope we will be at the level of the game, which will be high.”
Asked if this was the kind of game he enjoyed when he took the Liverpool job, Iraola added: “Yes, we are here to play this game. We know it’s going to be a challenge. They are very good but we are also very good.”
It will be the first time since 2015 that this clash will have neither Jurgen Klopp nor Guardiola on the touchline, but nevertheless a hostile atmosphere awaits and Tom Werner, the president of Liverpool, will be present.
Liverpool finished second in the Premier League behind Man City in 2013-14 under Brendan Rodgers and again in 2018-19 and 2021-22 when Klopp’s side scored 97 and 92 points respectively, but were one behind Guardiola’s City as they trailed to the title.
A verdict on City’s appeal awaits. City insist they are innocent, but sections of the Liverpool fan base as well as former players and staff will feel aggrieved.
“You think about the memories and the successes that were wrongly denied to you,” John Achterberg, who was Liverpool’s goalkeeping coach under Rodgers and Klopp, told The Athletic., external
“We won one Premier League title (in 2019-20), but it could have been four given we missed out on City three times by such narrow margins.”
Iraola added: “Probably the worst thing is the uncertainty. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. We have to focus on Liverpool and being the best club we can be, the best team we can be. That’s my challenge.”
Gn sports
