LIVERPOOL, England -- There are more backslaps & hugs between players than flying pizzas and tunnel bust-ups when Liverpool take on Manchester City, but while this fixture lacks the animosity & belligerence of old Manchester United-Arsenal clashes, the sheer chất lượng displayed during Sunday"s 2-2 draw at Anfield showed that the rivalry is as intense as when Sir Alex Ferguson & Arsene Wenger"s greatest teams locked horns two decades ago.
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For many, nothing will ever match the sense of occasion & needle that accompanied the majority of those United-Arsenal encounters between 1998 and 2004, when the two clubs won seven Premier League titles between them.
But nostalgia has a habit of making everything seem as though it was better in the past, instantly dismissing whatever the present day can offer as a poor imitation.
And while those games of yesteryear evoke memories of great goals & moments by legendary players such as Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Patrick Vieira & Roy Keane, Liverpool và City"s recent history has its own back catalogue of unforgettable contributions, which were added to at Anfield when Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Phil Foden & Kevin De Bruyne scored sensational goals.
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The effort of Salah, in particular, was up there with the greatest the league has seen. With his back khổng lồ goal, the Egypt international received the ball just outside the đô thị penalty area, before escaping the attention of several defenders and turning Aymeric Laporte khổng lồ fire past Ederson from a narrow angle.
"Only the best players in the world score goals like this," Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. "It was the first touch, the first challenge he wins, then going round & putting it on his right foot, finishing the move as he did. Absolutely exceptional."
The goal restored Liverpool"s lead after Foden"s tidy finish had cancelled out Mane"s opener, created by another Salah run. Anfield was alive as trang chủ fans sensed another win against the champions, but De Bruyne"s finish from a fast đô thị break earned Pep Guardiola"s side a chia sẻ of the points. ""I love the Premier League," the thành phố manager said afterward. "Congratulations Liverpool & their players. That"s why the last years both teams were fighting khổng lồ win the Premier League."
The quality on display at both ends of the pitch went beyond the four second-half goals. In the Liverpool goal, for example, Alisson Becker produced the kind of saves that Peter Schmeichel và David Seaman once pulled off for United and Arsenal respectively.
Meanwhile, Rodri"s late block denied what looked certain khổng lồ a Fabinho winner for Liverpool; it was a fitting moment lớn cap a personal duel that showed that, while the game"s evolution has taken away physical confrontations that defined the battles of Keane and Vieira, there is still room for tough-tackling và cynical challenges in any modern rivalry.
Jurgen Klopp"s Liverpool & Pep Guardiola"s Man city remain the Premier League"s teams to lớn beat.GettyYes, Liverpool and City have yet to lớn degenerate into the post-match buffet being thrown among rival players, as happened when United beat Arsenal at Old Trafford in 2004. And, true, Klopp and Guardiola embraced at the kết thúc of this trò chơi as opposed khổng lồ offering cursory handshakes a la Ferguson và Wenger, but this game has become the fixture that stops clocks in the Premier League.
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It is the first to vì so over a sustained period for some time. The Manchester clubs" rivalry, sparked by Sheikh Mansour"s 2008 takeover at City, has subsided with City"s dominance since Ferguson"s retirement in 2013, but Guardiola"s team has been trading blows with Klopp"s Liverpool for four intense years.
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, the two teams have met 12 times in all competitions and this latest result means each has four wins within that time, with four draws. Moreover, the occasions have always been vital.
Editor"s PicksThere was Liverpool"s epic 4-3 league win at Anfield in January 2018, which was followed by a seismic Champions League quarterfinal triumph for Klopp"s men three months later. City, for their part, have collected 5-0 and 4-0 successes en route to lớn winning three of the last four English titles; Liverpool won the other.
The two sides have been inches apart for many years. In 2018-19, when a John Stones clearance was pivotal in a vital đô thị win when the sides met, Liverpool amassed 97 points and finished second, one point behind Guardiola & Co.
Rivalries are shaped by personalities & storylines, but bởi not dismiss the intensity of city versus Liverpool because it lacks bad blood. Both teams have players to lớn match up with those from the United-Arsenal era, while Guardiola & Klopp are as important to lớn their clubs as Ferguson và Wenger.
City"s possession game might lack a centre-forward to lớn put the finishing touch to lớn their great buildup play, but they scored stunning goals through Foden và De Bruyne regardless. And Liverpool, while pressed back for much of the game, showed their razor-sharp cutting edge when scoring through Mane & Salah.
When history judges this era, it will be measured in terms of trophies won. đô thị have claimed everything domestically under Guardiola -- several times over -- while Klopp has made Liverpool champions of England, Europe và the world.
Seven games into this Premier League season, there is little to choose between them again; this pulsating trò chơi pointed lớn both sides again slugging it out for the title next May, as well as everything else.