After Mohamed Salah announced that he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, one thing is becoming clearer: it’s the end of an era.
Not just an era that has seen the Egyptian obliterate records and make a mockery of Premier League defences with his spellbinding performances.
But an era that produced possibly the highest quality of football the league has ever seen. Manchester City vs Liverpool; Pep Guardiola vs Jurgen Klopp.
Rewind to Thursday, January 3, 2019. The Etihad Stadium. City host Liverpool a little over halfway through the Premier League season, trailing their opponents at the top by seven points. What followed was 90 minutes of football like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
High stakes drama. End-to-end action. Two top defences. Two industrious midfields. Two potent attacks.
Of the 22 players that started that famous night, just six remain. Only John Stones and Bernardo Silva remain from the City side; both have their contracts expiring this summer. As for the Reds, with Salah leaving, only Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson remain. The latter’s deal is also up this summer, while Alisson’s future has also been subject to speculation.
Guardiola is also coming toward the end of his tenure as City manager. Meanwhile, it’s been nearly two years since Klopp bade farewell to Merseyside.
As the Premier League moves toward a more set-piece and transition-based approach, it feels like a far cry from the days of the City-Liverpool title races.
I’m a City fan on placement at the ECHO, and these are my memories of an era-defining rivalry...
To really gauge a full picture of it, we must go back to the 2017/18 season. Early on in that campaign, the clubs met in Manchester, with Guardiola’s side romping home to a 5-0 win. Leroy Sane scored twice on a day when Sadio Mane was sent off for a high boot on Ederson.
That was one of many batterings dished out by City to kickstart that season. They made it all the way to January 14 without tasting defeat. But then came Anfield.
Klopp’s men were unbeaten in 17 games in all competitions themselves heading into it. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s early pile driver sent the Kop into a frenzy.
Sane was a thorn in the Reds’ side again, however, equalising before half-time. Then came Roberto Firmino’s lob, Mane’s howitzer, and Salah’s frankly ridiculous long-range strike.
Three goals in eight minutes, Liverpool had announced themselves, all right.
After Bernardo and Ilkay Gundogan salvaged a respectable 4-3 defeat for the visitors, a shake of the head from Guardiola when shaking Klopp’s hand told you all you needed to know. ‘You’re going to cause me some problems’ was the assumption written all over his face. And that certainly materialised.
The sides then drew each other in the Champions League quarter-finals. With a rivalry starting to boil off the pitch, the power of Anfield on European nights overcame another opponent.
Where City had been imperious all season-long, they seemed helpless. Powerless. Shell-shocked. They went down 3-0.
In the return leg at the Etihad, where the home crowd were manifesting a comeback for the ages, Gabriel Jesus started the job after mere minutes.
But a disallowed goal made sky blue heads hot and saw Guardiola sent to the stands. Salah and Firmino popped up again to book the Reds’ semi-final place as 5-1 aggregate winners.
And while Guardiola’s team had ran away with the league title, it was clear they’d have a much tougher battle on their hands if they were to defend it.
Seven games into the 2018/19 season, Anfield played host to an early six-pointer in the Premier League title race. Both City and Liverpool had picked up 19 of a possible 21 points to start the campaign.
Here they would add another one each to their tally, after a high-intensity, end-to-end battle finished goalless, with Riyad Mahrez’s late penalty miss rued for some time in City quarters.
Fast-forward to the new year, and the stakes were even higher. A winter blip from the Citizens saw them fall behind in the title race.
A loss to Liverpool at the Etihad would give them a 10-point mountain to climb. Win, and the gap would be cut to four.
In just the first half, Vincent Kompany had brought Salah down and told him to get up (in harsher terms), Stones cleared off the line, and Sergio Aguero nipped in to fire the hosts in front with a trademark near-post finish.
Eleven millimetres was how close the Reds had got to taking the lead. An effortless Firmino backheel allowed Salah to send Mane through on goal in the blink of an eye. That front three up to its old tricks again.
When they did score, it was Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson linking up as they so often did, with the latter setting up Firmino for a simple headed finish.
But Sane popped up again late on to win it in a game many consider to be the greatest in the league’s history.
City captain Kompany told Sky after the game that his team’s performance was ‘beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed’. It was the night Bernardo broke his own record for most distance covered in a game (13.7km).
These were two heavyweights going blow for blow, trying to outdo each other, playing their own way, and with style.
Stones’ clearance and the subsequent image of the goal-line decision system remain firmly etched into City folklore.
Without that, Liverpool win the league as undefeated champions, likely with 100 points no less.
While it was City that would go on to win that title, it was clear that these two teams - both at the peak of their powers - weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The Reds finally got their hands on the Premier League title in 2020. Their meetings with City that year were decidedly more one-sided, with both teams winning one each.
But they certainly still came with chaos. Guardiola’s irate hand gestures on the Anfield touchline and Bernardo’s emotionless expression during Liverpool’s guard of honour at the Etihad spring to mind.
The following year saw City storm to victory at Anfield for the first time in 18 years, but tellingly behind closed doors.
After the painful Covid years, in which fans were sorely missed, the fixture got its fire back and it delivered two more corkers, the first of which coming in October 2021 at Anfield.
Bernardo’s mesmerising run. Salah weaving in and out of traffic, leaving defenders in his wake to score a simply stunning solo goal. Rodri’s last-gasp block to stop a certain winner. This game aged me about 10 years.
You could see from the way both Guardiola and Klopp celebrated each of their teams’ goals in the 2-2 draw, that these were two hungry sides - and both would be competing at the top again come May.
Fast-forward to April and that was certainly the case. With seven matches remaining, City led the way, but only by a point.
They were neck and neck again. They went blow for blow again.
And it was the same old stars, cast in the latest edition of a blockbuster match-up, writing their names into the history books again. Kevin de Bruyne. 1-0. The late Diogo Jota. 1-1. Jesus. 2-1. Mane. 2-2..
Both sides brought their 'A' game once more, and couldn’t be separated, with a famously charged-up Guardiola handshake telling of the emotional rollercoasters he’d been put through by his counterpart over the years.
City pipped their rivals - who were effectively two wins away from an unprecedented quadruple - to the title again in 2022.
While since then, the clubs haven’t been directly competing with each other as they used to, this rivalry was something to savour.
Both Guardiola and Klopp speak glowingly of one another, with the Catalan having made no secret of the impact the German has had on his career, pushing him to be the best he can be.
It just so happens that the City boss has struggled more than ever, and his future is more uncertain than ever, now his old foe has gone.
With the Premier League in its current state, perhaps another title win in this era just wouldn’t quite feel the same for Guardiola.
To reach 97 points and still be pipped to the title takes something truly special. But without one team, you likely don’t get the other.
Two masterminds. Two teams sweeping up all before them, making light work of the best league in the world. Oh, what a privilege it was to witness.
