It was a contest that perfectly demonstrated why Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola will define their generation of coaches. These two Liverpool and Manchester City teams will define this Premier League era.
In the first half, Manchester City was on top. Darwin Núñez was struggling to stay onside, let alone hold the ball up, and Guardiola’s controlling game took the sting out of the Anfield atmosphere.
In the second, it flipped. Liverpool was able to better control things and penned its opponent back. Núñez improved, Luis Díaz did everything but score, and Alexis Mac Allister somehow went up another level again.
Either side could have won it — Liverpool had a strong shout for a penalty turned down, but Jérémy Doku, the man who appeared to foul Mac Allister, had hit the post a few minutes earlier. A draw was a fair reflection of how tight the game was and it has tantalizingly set up the Premier League title race — and Arsenal’s trip to the Etihad Stadium later in the month.
Manchester City might have more resources to play with and Guardiola had the luxury of leaving $165m (£128m/€151m) duo Joško Gvardiol and Matheus Nunes on the bench, but Liverpool has something else. Klopp knew that the Anfield factor would play a part pre-match and that proved to be the case.
“I have spoken so many times this season already about the difference that our supporters can and do make,” he wrote in his matchday program notes. “I am not sure that it is necessary for me to say this today because I know our fans well enough to realize that they sense moments better than anyone.
“They sensed moments at Nottingham Forest last weekend, against Luton in our last home league game and in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley and each time they helped us to get us over the line. It does not take too much imagination to think that there will be moments when this is needed again today so the more that you can be with us the better.
“Anfield at its noisy, passionate best is one of the best things I have ever experienced in football. It would not be too bad if it could be like this again today.”
There were periods when Manchester City managed to quieten those in the stands. But when it mattered, and Liverpool needed a lift, the players and supporters worked in tandem. Harvey Elliott was among those to gesture for more noise but really, it was the skill of Díaz and the poise of Mac Allister that turned the tide.
“You have to survive,” Guardiola said post-match while speaking to the BBC, referencing the intensity. “I don’t know how! Help each other. You have the ball and you don’t have time… especially in this stadium.”
You could see, even when Anfield was a little quieter in the first half, that it played a part. Rodri and Kyle Walker had a heated argument when Díaz got the better of the right-back. The Spanish midfielder was throwing his arms in the air and making no bones about how displeased he was.
Kevin De Bruyne is normally mild-mannered but lost it with his manager on the touchline after he was taken off in the second half and Bernardo Silva was raging several times before he eventually went into Michael Oliver’s notebook. That kind of persistence from Silva is nothing new, but for the others, this was out of the ordinary.
Rodri and De Bruyne, in particular, appeared to be rattled by what was going on around them. Neither played to anything like the level that they can at their best. Part of that was Mac Allister, Wataru Endō and Dominik Szoboszlai’s doing, but it was also down to the intensity of the occasion.
The next time an away section asks ‘Where’s your famous atmosphere?’ — it won’t be long, and Manchester City fans even managed a rendition at one stage — the answer will remain clear. Rodri and De Bruyne are the latest proof of what Anfield can do to even the most elite players, but they won’t be the last.
