The press and pundits have already decided Liverpool have won.
No sooner had the draw been made than Sky Sports News was awash with clips of Liverpool’s (narrow) victory over City in January.
Pundits in new TM Lewin garb were quickly ferried in from far and wide to denounce City’s chances and use phrases like ‘European pedigree’ and those ‘special European nights at Anfield.’
City are already 3-0 down before a ball is kicked. The scorers being history, atmosphere and empty seats. Yawn!
There was no mention of the fact that City are 18 points ahead of Liverpool in the league, have only lost three games in all competitions so far this season and beat Liverpool 5-0 at The Etihad.
The desperation for Liverpool to triumph over City is palpable and while Liverpool fans talk of sabotaging the City team bus (which seems bizarre and could see them banned from Europe if it all goes wrong) on social media, City are merely looking at it for what it is. A Quarter Final tie against another Premier League team.
This alone should hopefully give City that extra edge to remind everybody why they are breaking nearly every record going.
City have better players
Let’s get to the point. Mo Salah aside, not one of Liverpool’s starting XI gets in to City’s.
Mo Salah has been phenomenal (although Aguero still has a better minute to goal ratio in 2018) but if both have fully fit squads there isn’t another Liverpool player who gets into City’s line up. And that is why City are so dominant.
Ederson, Walker, Mendy, Kompany, Otamendi, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Aguero.
All of these players are better than their Liverpool counterparts. I’m not saying Liverpool do not have good players or that the likes of Firmino, Robertson, Van Dijk etc wouldn’t get in over time, But if you merged the squads right now, only Salah would start.
The tie is over two legs
Make no bones about it – City have a poor record against Liverpool, particularly at Anfield.
However, despite the furore over Liverpool’s win in January, the facts tell a different story.
City had a 10 minute spell at Anfield which cost them that game. They gifted Liverpool three goals in nine minutes. It was the first and only time this season that City have struggled to defend.
Ederson was always going to give away at least one goal like that this season. It happened to fall to one of a handful of players in the league capable of finishing from there like that in Mo Salah. Any other player is unlikely to score that goal.
And despite that poor spell City recovered and almost snatched a point. Not to mention the 5-0 drubbing they handed Liverpool earlier in the season.
City will need to control the tempo in the first leg at Anfield and manage the game far better. But they will.
In a one-off Liverpool could easily beat City. Over two legs with City at home in the return fixture it seems a very different proposition.
Liverpool fans talk of atmosphere. City won 4-2 in the San Paolo, becoming the only other side since Real Madrid to win a European game there. Anfield will be fine.
Klopp V Guardiola
It is true that Klopp slightly edges their head to head record over the games they have met both in the Bundesliga and the Premier League.
But that does not tell the whole story. Guardiola has won 22 major trophies (soon to be 23 with the Premier League) to Klopp’s five.
Klopp also has an incredible record of losing in cup finals. He has lost his last five cup finals as a manager including two with Liverpool.
Whilst Klopp is obviously a talented manager he is some way off his Spanish counterpart.
Liverpool are well ... Liverpool
There is something of well, the Spurs about Liverpool. They are more than capable of pulling off a result against City and then losing their next game to West Brom.
They have repeatedly struggled in the league under Klopp, not against the bigger sides, but against those at the lower end of the table. For all the attractive football there is a weakness about Liverpool and that is difficult to get rid of psychologically.
In the 2016 Europe League final they went 1-0 up against Sevilla and were cruising before a second-half collapse.
At City earlier in the season they went down to 10 men and all but gave up. City by contrast went down to 10 men against Everton, salvaged a point and had 65% possession.
That is why City are champions elect.
