Days after admitting Liverpool couldn’t compete with Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp saw his team defeat the Premier League champions at Anfield in a thrilling match.
The way Liverpool responded to both Klopp’s remarks and a subpar start to the season as a whole was instructive. It is clear that Klopp was not referring to matching Pep Guardiola’s squad over the course of a single game but rather was pointing to a larger issue in sport.
It’s not difficult to see City cruising to even more League titles than they currently have under Guardiola if it weren’t for this Liverpool squad. Even if the Merseyside giants cannot spend as much as their opponents, Klopp’s coaching has made it feasible for them to defeat City.
It was immediately apparent that Anfield had regained its confidence. With the high pressing preventing City from breathing during those initial phases, it was as if we had travelled back in time to Klopp’s formative years.
Erling Haaland’s foul on Fabinho in the buildup resulted in Phil Foden’s would-be opener being disallowed, but Liverpool had the better opportunities despite the fact that the away team gained control of the game and will feel aggrieved about it. Ironic that Haaland, who was having a bad day, contributed to a goal being disallowed.
Just after the break, Ederson made a stop on the outstanding Mohamed Salah in a one-on-one situation, but in the 76th minute, after turning Rodri and Joao Cancelo, Salah made no mistakes to gallop through on goal and score.
In a tense match, Klopp was dismissed for seeming to yell in the face of a referee after Salah’s foul wasn’t called and City kept pressing for a leveller.
That therefore created openings for Liverpool to take advantage of, but in a frantic end, Darwin Nunez was unable to locate a final pass.
In the end, a Liverpool squad that had to use every last bit of energy to compete with City throughout the years ultimately defeated them.
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