Liverpool have had many blood and thunder encounter’s with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and their clash on this day in 2018 was no different
Liverpool put in one of their most iconic performances under Jurgen Klopp, on this day five years ago, as they beat Manchester City 4-3.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had put the Reds in front before Leroy Sane levelled the scoring just five minutes before the break. Following the interval, the German’s side enjoyed a nine-minute three-goal flurry to move into a commanding lead over the reigning Premier League champions.
In one of his post-match interviews, Klopp hailed the game as a “historic game you will talk about in 20 years”. The clash formed one of the many ongoing battles between Pep Guardiola and Liverpool in front of a raucous Anfield crowd.
The former Arsenal midfielder was enjoying his best spell since arriving in L4 and he picked up the loose ball just inside the City half before bursting forward, firing into Ederson’s bottom corner. Oxlade-Chamberlain went on to score an even better goal, in the same corner, in front of the Kop against the same opponent in the Champions League, months later.
Liverpool’s front three were all instrumental in providing a cushion against their rivals. Roberto Firmino rounded off impressive forward play to lob the Brazilian stopper, Sadio Mane soon got in on the act as he rifled a left-footed strike into the top corner before Mohamed Salah swept home from long-range after a poor clearance from the goalkeeper.
City fought back through Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan in the latter stages but the Reds had enough to see out the win, ending their Manchester rivals’ run of 22 games unbeaten.
One of the standout moments post-match saw another hilarious moment from Liverpool’s legendary manager.
“Yeah, I am [delighted]. This is NBC, this means my boss is watching it probably… jumping up and down,” he said during an interview with NBC Sports.
“You can have a look at this game in different ways, look at it as a manager and look at what we could’ve done, this or that. Or you can look at it as a football and say ‘what the f*** was that?’ Unbelievable.
“We must apologise there for the language,” the presenter interjected.
Klopp added: “I thought in America it’s okay [to swear]. In England, it’s not possible to use those words.”
A memorable moment in Liverpool’s season as they finished fourth in the Premier League before suffering heartache in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
