Politically, it has been quite a week for U-turns and the notion that Liverpool are no longer able to compete with state-owned football clubs may have to go the way of the mini budget.
The theory that Liverpool are at a permanent, perhaps fatal, disadvantage to those with the budgets of Manchester City and Newcastle was, admittedly, floated by Jurgen Klopp.
However, the fact remains that since February, Manchester City have lost three times to English teams and on each occasion the club that has beaten them has been Liverpool.
This was not as emphatic as last season’s victory in the FA Cup and may not be as illusory as the one in the Community Shield that opened this campaign. However, as Klopp returned after the final whistle to drink in an atmosphere laced with red smoke and song, it was probably the most satisfying, marred only by an injury to Diogo Jota.
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“We were so soft in the FA Cup and the Community Shield,” said Pep Guardiola. “I said if they shout, we have to shout more. They have to run and we have to run more. Otherwise, it is impossible in this stadium. The game was calm and then after our goal was disallowed, it became the real Anfield.”
There were coins thrown at the Manchester City manager and a red card when Klopp ran after a linesman who had failed to signal a foul against Mohamed Salah and gave him a mouthful. On a weekend in which the Merseyside Youth League had cancelled all its games because of abuse of its officials it was crass behaviour and something the Liverpool manager confessed he was not proud of.
Nevertheless, this a big, big win. When he was at Borussia Dortmund seeing his players bought from under him by Bayern Munich, Klopp compared their actions to that of “a James Bond villain bent on world domination”.
For season after season at Liverpool, he has faced up to another Blofeld, this time armed with far more weaponry.
In Erling Haaland, Manchester City possessed a forward who came to Anfield on course to break Dixie Dean’s record of 60 goals in a season that has stood since 1928.
Liverpool’s defence had conceded the first goal in 10 of their last 12 league games. You would have got short odds on that sequence being extended. Before last Sunday’s game at Arsenal, Klopp had told his back four to “defend the sh*t out of it” and saw his side concede in the first minute.
One game late, they carried out his instructions. Joe Gomez, who last played centre-half in April, kept Haaland down to two chances. Klopp confessed he knew there would be consternation when he named the 36-year-old James Milner as his right back. Milner was up against Phil Foden, who was two when he made his debut for Leeds. In a game where pace is said to be everything it should not have been a contest.
Milner grew up in the Leeds suburb of Wortley whose football pitches have bred players such as David Batty, Brian Deane and Stuart McCall. His career, which has seen him play in every position bar goalkeeper, has been the equal of any of them.
Now, he was wearing the number seven shirt of Keegan and Dalglish and, as he blocked off Foden and thundered down the wing, it was not unworthy of him.
Milner was the most elderly of an ageing side. The starting line-up contained seven players over 30, of which most focus was on Salah.
Awarding a forward of that age a five-year contract seemed questionable business but a hat-trick at Rangers, followed up by the assassin’s coolness of his finish when one-on-one with Ederson, was a vindication.
On a day when Real Madrid played Barcelona it was also a vindication that this fixture is still the nearest we have to El Clasico.
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