The historic and industrial rivalry between Liverpool and Man United have seen the two clubs dominate domestic and European football. But has the rivalry changed elsewhere?
In recent years, Liverpool vs Manchester City has been an unmissable fixture, enticing all football fans across the country and worldwide. Until the 2013-14 season where City beat Liverpool to the title by just two points, the last real rivalry between the two clubs was a title race in the 1976-77 season.
Since the appointing of both Jurgen Klopp at Anfield and Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, the encounter between both clubs has intensified massively. Sharing the last three Premier League titles expresses how dominant the pair have been.
With both Liverpool and Manchester City locating in the north west, just 35 miles apart, the attention from the Premier League has stayed up north.
In both Premier League and Champions league games, Liverpool vs Man City has staged some captivating games with each game showing great significance to the two teams.
Liverpool and City have both shown how important a home fixture is when facing each other. In the last few years at Anfield, Liverpool have had several home premier League wins against the Citizens including, a 4-3 in 2018 and 3-1 in 2019 with Manchester City beating the reds 5-0 in 2017 as well as their most recent 4-1 win at the Etihad.
The competitiveness in the Champions League has also been a great watch, which includes Liverpool’s 5-1 aggregate win over the two legs in 2018. The overall success in the Champions league, however, in recent years must be given to the Merseyside club after winning the competition in the 2018-19 campaign after finishing runners up the season before.
The last few years have also seen both clubs break records in the Premier League including the two highest number of points in a single season ever. This includes Manchester City’s emphatic 2017/18 season, finishing on 100 points.
After the 2018/19 season where Manchester city went on a phenomenal run of 14 consecutive victories to overhaul Liverpool by just one point, the Reds went on the following season to dominate the Premier League, including winning 26 and drawing one from their opening 27 fixtures, finishing on 99 points.
This fascinating fixture has been highly acknowledged by many, including former football stars. “These two teams play the game in such a lovely way to watch it’s a different rivalry to what they had before. A respect level beyond belief because of what they’ve both achieved but I don’t think it’ll be a game where there’s a lot of tackles” were the words of ex Manchester City star Micah Richards.
Ex England international Trevor Sinclair said “Manchester City and Liverpool – 100%. It’s the new Manchester United vs Arsenal, it’s the new Manchester United vs Liverpool. I think this is the most anticipated fixture in English football and it has been for the last few years.”
Whether or not this fixture is the biggest in England right now, there is no doubting the pure quality and entertainment the two sides have provided for football fans in recent years.
