Manchester City appeared to revel in their status as English football’s most controversial club at Anfield on Sunday night. Branded by many as the biggest cheats in the country’s sporting history, Pep Guardiola’s side responded to the hostility with a defiant performance—and celebrated as though the condemnation surrounding them barely mattered.
The fixture was City’s first public appearance since an independent commission found them guilty of 114 financial-related charges. Yet they showed no sign of being weighed down by the verdict, sweeping aside Liverpool with a convincing 3-0 win. For a sport already unsettled by the case, it was another deeply uncomfortable afternoon.
The result restored Manchester City’s three-point advantage over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and extended their perfect start to six victories. But with an appeal still to be heard and the possibility of a major sanction hanging over the club, it remains unclear how much this early-season dominance will ultimately count for.
In the closing stages, supporters in the City section turned away from the pitch to perform the Poznan, the celebratory routine long associated with the club. Their mood could change dramatically if the widely anticipated punishment includes relegation to League Two at the end of the campaign.
The scene captured the strange state of the Premier League. A team with an unblemished record, and one that produced some outstanding football after the interval, was taunted by Liverpool fans singing, “Going down, going down, going down.” City may eventually be relegated, but for now they are determined to enjoy their supremacy.
To City, the fury around the verdict seemed little more than background noise. For much of the wider football community, however, the occasion was dispiriting. At least for the moment, the uncomfortable impression remains that success can survive even the most serious accusations.
Erling Haaland celebrates opening the scoring at Anfield after Liverpool were reduced to 10 men
Liverpool suffered a 3-0 defeat in City’s first match since the guilty verdict
Jeremy Doku doubled City’s advantage with a superb curling finish as supporters waved inflatable bananas
City’s exuberant celebrations were bound to jar with those who believe the club had been found guilty of repeated financial wrongdoing. Humility, though, has never been central to Manchester City’s modern identity, and there was no indication that their approach would change now. The league may be suspended in uncertainty, but on the pitch they remain beyond reach.
The match was the climax of an extraordinary day on Merseyside. Hours before kick-off, supporters gathered five and 10 deep along Anfield Road, recalling the final weeks of the 2013-14 season, when Liverpool fans created a wall of noise in an attempt to drive Brendan Rodgers’ team towards the title. City won the championship that year, one of several triumphs that could now face an asterisk depending on the outcome of the case.
This time, the crowds had assembled for an altogether different welcome. Some supporters displayed banners reading, “Guilty – 114 Charges.” The artwork showed Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Pep Guardiola, Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki portrayed as glum prisoners, surrounded by champagne bottles and stacks of money.
Other flags carried the single word “Cheats” against a sky-blue background, accompanied by the number 114. Red flare smoke drifted farther down the road while police officers near the Players’ Entrance watched the gathering uneasily. As anticipation grew, Liverpool supporters shouted insults at the approaching team coach, accusing the visitors of knowing exactly what they were.
The atmosphere had the feel of a public reckoning, like a crowd waiting to jeer condemned aristocrats as they were carried through the streets. But the City coach avoided the main route, taking a quieter approach to the stadium and arriving with almost no attention.
Two blue buses bearing the Manchester City name moved slowly beneath the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand. With security staff jogging alongside them, they entered the underground car park without incident.
Amid the secrecy and hostility, Manchester City began a new chapter as English football’s outcasts. That is the club’s reality after an independent commission ruled against them on 114 of the financial charges brought by the Premier League. Until the legal process is complete, rival supporters are likely to treat City as a club under condemnation.
They arrived at Anfield with the air of fugitives, and that label is unlikely to disappear while they challenge the findings linked to the financial practices that allegedly helped shape their success from 2009 through 2018 and beyond. The rest of the league may continue to view them that way until the appeal is resolved and any punishment imposed. On Sunday, City made clear that they intend to answer the hostility with defiance.
Manchester City celebrated wildly at Anfield, appearing to answer football’s condemnation with defiance
Ryan Gravenberch was shown a red card by referee Chris Kavanagh during the second half
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Anfield supporters displayed banners mocking City after the verdict, including one featuring 114 pound signs inside the word “cheat”
‘A generation of supporters cheated’, summed up the sentiment from Liverpool fans
The Anfield crowd left them in no doubt about the extent of the anger that other clubs feel about the unfair advantage they gained for so long. ‘A generation of supporters cheated,’ one banner hanging in the Kop said, articulating the feeling that City stole away the joy of days of triumph from fans of other clubs, days they will never get back.
‘And after all, you robbed us all,’ another banner in the Kop said. At the end of their warm-up, it was that banner in front of which the Liverpool players chose to congregate and salute their supporters. Perhaps it was coincidence. Perhaps it was not. The supporters roared their approval.
‘All of your stars are fading away,’ one more sign referencing the work of Manchester band Oasis, said. In the front row of the Kop, home fans unfurled a long, thin, banner that ran for half the length of the stand. It was a row of 114 £ signs, decorated with the word ‘Cheats’.
In many ways, it was sad to see City reduced to this. This is a fine old club brought low by the actions of its owners. Once the standard bearers of the Premier League, once a team that won an unprecedented four top flight titles in succession, City are now a team to be mocked and scorned by supporters of other clubs.
The television cameras picked out City’s embattled chief executive Ferran Soriano sitting in the stands. There was no sign of the chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak. That was a surprise on a day when most expected him to make a point of showing solidarity with the club’s players and staff.
It was left – as it is always left – to the most loyal of City’s fans to stand up for the club. What has happened to City is no fault of theirs, of course, and the hard-core travelling contingent – including Noel Gallagher – showed their own defiance in the best way, travelling here to hostile territory and waving an army of inflatable bananas in the air.
Better inflated bananas than inflated commercial income. The yellow fruit was a nod to the times before the Abu Dhabi takeover when City spent time in the lower leagues and their fans did not waver in their support. The bananas were a symbol of that time. For some legacy fans, the prospect of being relegated to League Two holds no fears.
Rayan Cherki scored the third after a great team move as City ran out comfortable winners
Enzo Maresca gestures to the fans after steering his side to victory away at Anfield
City supporters are seen doing the Poznan in a game that ultimately could be meaningless
City fans in the away end celebrated while the rest of football turned away in despair
City’s players, too, were unfazed by their infamy. It was three minutes after half-time when Liverpool conjured the first real chance of the game. The ball fell to Lewis Koumas on the edge of the area and his stinging left-foot shot was beaten away by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Suddenly Liverpool poured forward. Donnarumma saved again from the excellent Ryan Gravenberch. Alexis Mac Allister whistled a shot wide.
But then City took control. Haaland, whose father Alf Inge, was also standing with the City away fans, was played through by Antoine Semenyo but clipped his right-foot shot just wide of the far post.
Many had speculated that at least one of the teams would not finish the game with all ten outfielders on the pitch and they were proved correct three minutes later when Gravenberch was sent off for a second bookable offence, an innocuous push on Jeremy Doku. Fernandez brandished an imaginary card in the referee’s direction as soon as the foul occurred and Chris Kavanagh agreed with him.
Seconds after Gravenberch had trudged off the pitch, City were ahead. Doku cut inside and unleashed a fierce shot that cannoned off Mac Allister. Haaland reacted fastest and lashed an instant drive past Alisson. The goal was scored in front of the away end. The fans there celebrated wildly. The goal must have tasted particularly sweet.
Three minutes later, City were two ahead. Doku teased Victor Munoz on the edge of the Liverpool box, jinked to his right and curled a delicious shot over Alisson. Twelve minutes from time, Cherki completed the victory with the best goal of the lot, running on to an extravagant flick by Josko Gvardiol and slipping the ball beneath Alisson for the third.
The pariahs celebrated in front of their own supporters and punched the air. The rest of football turned away in despair at what the game has become and the uncertainty that stalks it.
