The whataboutery must stop, the time for tit-for-tat is over. The rivalry between Manchester City and Liverpool is starting to head into a dark place from which it is difficult to reverse.
Chucked coins and smashed windscreens were a depressing footnote to a fascinating football match. The reprehensible chants about stadium disasters and allusions to Hillsborough sunk things even lower and demand immediate action.
Surely amid the sulphur, it’s time for both camps to get together and nip this trend in the bud. Time, surely, for the venom to be drawn from English football’s newest super rivalry before it descends any further into toxic tribalism and detracts from the fact the Premier League is housing two of the best teams in the world, managed by two of the best managers who regularly conspire to produce classics.
Claim and counter-claim followed Liverpool’s 1-0 win but the truth is this game has carried some unsavoury baggage for a while now.
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The chants, for example, are offensive but not discriminatory so the FA can’t act. But City can take the lead. Hillsborough poison has swilled around football grounds in England far too often and City could work with Liverpool on a joint statement, perhaps voiced or authored by the two club captains for extra resonance, calling for an end to it. Shaming those who spoil the fixture might be the best course of action in the end.
No-one wants to sand away the competitive edge that gives the fixture its bite. Put simply its two outstanding sides taken to new levels by rivals who bring out the best in them. And it matters more because the two sides enter it with their grudges from previous fixtures firing them up.
That’s not a problem: Liverpool can proudly display their history while Manchester City can proclaim themselves the coming force.
Similarly, accusations that Jurgen Klopp stoked the ugly side of the rivalry – or was even displaying prejudice – by raising the provenance of Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi funding in the pre-match press conference seem to stretch credibility. These are discussions that could and should be dealt with head on.
Fans of both might not like to admit it, but the two sides need each other. The build-up was dominated by talk that City’s acquisition of Erling Haaland has made them indestructible but here was technicolour evidence of the opposite as Liverpool brandished Kryptonite to take down the Norwegian superman.
The Premier League needs a level of competitiveness that brings out the best in its teams. What it does not need is a procession of the sort that holds back the Bundesliga. While City were being undone at Anfield, supposedly struggling Bayern Munich thrashed early pace-setters SC Freiburg 5-0. Compare and contrast with a result that blew the Premier League title race wide open.
The two clubs benefit from blue chip competition pushing them on to new heights – but no-one needs the nastiness. Manchester City and Liverpool should resolve to be the best of enemies.
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