Farcical finish ensures rare victory for City at Anfield

A farcical finish, but a fantastic win for Pep Guardiola. He had waited a decade to taste victory at a full Anfield.

- RICHARD JOLLY

When he did, with a comeback for the ages, seemingly capped by a goal from the halfway line into an empty net, pernickety officiating injected an element of absurd with a decision that no one wanted or needed.

And yet the overall outcome was the same. As Liverpool led, it felt as though Arsenal were about to be anointed champions. “The whole team knew before the game if we lost it then the title race was probably over,” said Bernardo Silva. Instead, he helped revive it. Erling Haaland, policed well by Virgil van Dijk, enduring a frustrating afternoon, suddenly turned catalyst. A manager who had visited Anfield 10 previous times, winning only in lockdown, got the triumph that had always eluded him. “It is so difficult,” sighed Guardiola. “Anfield is Anfield: the tradition, the history, the crowd.”

His historic triumph had considerable consequences for Liverpool. Dominik Szoboszlai had shaped up as the match-winner and ended up sent off and suspended for Wednesday’s trip to Sunderland. Arne Slot beat Guardiola at home and away last season. Now there has been another reversal in fortunes – indeed City’s first league double over Liverpool since 1937 – and a second defeat in three league games left the Dutchman bemoaning misfortune. “So many times this year we haven’t got what I think we deserve and this is another time,” sighed Slot. “I am feeling anger and disappointment.”