Liverpool-Man City rivalry lacks key ingredients, but two could be added to make it the greatest by May
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Updated 13/04/2022 at 08:58 GMT
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have one Premier League title to their name, while Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are yet to win the Champions League. If both teams can address this by winning silverware in May, then there would perhaps be less deliberation around where this rivalry stands among English football’s greatest. Liverpool are aiming to win the quadruple this season and City the treble.
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Jamie Carragher ignited the debate ahead of last weekend.
“Liverpool versus Manchester City has become the greatest, most intense and highest quality rivalry in English football history,” he said in his Telegraph column.
“There is a uniqueness to it. This is the first time the two best teams in England are the two best teams in the world, led by the two greatest coaches of their generation.
“I can hear the dissent from Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea fans as I argue this. There are plenty of head-to-heads worthy of comparison.”
The comments got the desired reaction, and after Sunday’s 2-2 draw played out and left the Premier League title race still in the balance, Carragher added on Twitter afterwards: “You now all know why I said this is the best rivalry we’ve ever had!”
The next instalment falls on Saturday, with Liverpool and City going head to head at Wembley for a place in the FA Cup final, while both are aiming to book their places in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday – both holding leads in their respective quarter-final ties.
Liverpool are still chasing the quadruple, City the treble, and though the trophy hunt for at least one side will narrow down come Saturday evening, the tightness of the title race means it will not be until May when a league champion is crowned.
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It will be the third season in four where City and Liverpool have finished as the top two, and it is this consistency which has made it a celebrated match-up – with much made of the fact City have picked up 339 league points to Liverpool’s 338 since the start of the 2018-19 season.
With such quality on show, it is a rivalry that is certainly 'up there', but a few ingredients are lacking.
For some it lacks the animosity that came when Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal faced Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp’s pleasantries throwing a few out of kilter when compared to those infamous touchline bust-ups, with captains Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane adding fuel to the fire as well.
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Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal in 2004
Image credit: Getty Images
It also lacks that one defining meeting. One of Chelsea or United won the Premier League every season from 2005 to 2011, with the other finishing runner-up on five of those seven occasions, and while they met in the 2007 FA Cup final, it was the 2008 Champions League final that goes down as their most memorable match of that era – a match decided by a slip and the width of a goalpost, and one that has elevated United’s 2008 team into the pantheon of great sides.
There could also be the argument that it lacks the necessary silverware as well. Across five seasons between 1977 and 1981, one of Liverpool or Nottingham Forest won the Division One title or the European Cup, or both – a sign of dominance not only domestically, but on the continental stage as well.
Given we are in the midst of this Liverpool-City rivalry playing out, it could yet become English football’s greatest, and there is every chance it could do as soon as May.
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Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool embraces Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City after the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool
Image credit: Getty Images
The animosity may never surface, nor does it really need to, but what would help is if the pair share out the silverware on offer this season.
It would arguably have to be the right way round, too. When this rivalry is over, it is hard to imagine calling it the greatest if Liverpool finish with one Premier League title, and similarly if City are unable to win the Champions League.
If Liverpool were to win a second Champions League since 2018, and City a fourth Premier League in that time, it would undoubtedly be impressive, but flip that around and it sounds even greater – Liverpool as two-time Premier League champions, and City as Champions League winners, finally.
It is also finely poised, because if City were to win the Premier League and Champions League, and continue to dominate for years to come, it would then be regarded as a one-sided rivalry, if Liverpool ended it with one Champions League and one Premier League. That is of course a major 'if', but the onus is arguably on Liverpool to keep the rivalry status going.
There is also the prospect of Liverpool and City meeting in the Champions League final as well, an outcome with obstacles to overcome first, but not completely out of the question.
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are among the sides who could have something to say about that, so too Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea and Villarreal, but many out there believe City and Liverpool are the two best sides in Europe, and a showdown in the final would not only be fitting but also the go-to match when the dust settles and this rivalry is one of the past.
Until then, though, we may as well enjoy it all playing out and just savour round after round of this heavyweight boxing match that seemingly has years left to run. Guardiola and Klopp certainly are.
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