All the talk this season has been about one man. Erling Haaland. But on an incredible afternoon on Merseyside, Mo Salah and Liverpool rewound the clock to beat champions Manchester City 1-0.
In midweek against Rangers there were small glimpses that the Liverpool of old had returned. Salah certainly got his confidence back with a quickfire hat-trick, but there were still question marks over how they would perform against elite opposition. On a special afternoon at Anfield, they silenced all doubters with a vital win over City.
It’s a win that ends Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten start to the season but also breathes new life into Liverpool’s campaign. Salah had the bit back between his teeth and was a constant thorn in City’s side as he bullied Joao Cancelo with a wonderful show of skill and strength for the opening goal.
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The goal came from a Man City set-piece as Alisson caught the ball and punted it towards Salah. He outfought Cancelo, left him in a spin, and then managed to find the finish when one on one with Ederson. It sent Anfield into raptures as they celebrated their Egyptian king.
This was a throwback game in many ways. It was tough. It was rugged. It was full of passion and heart. And when it comes down to it, that’s where Liverpool are in a league of their own. Despite going into this one as underdogs, the Anfield crowd more than played their part to level the playing field. It’s why they haven’t lost a home game in front of fans in five and a half years.
Jurgen Klopp just knows how to get the best out of those fans, and his players on the pitch. They haven’t done themselves justice this season. They haven’t done the Kop justice either. But against City, the two combined as they have done so famously in the Klopp era, to secure a famous win.
The crowd played a huge part, but there was also an interesting tactical battle that unfolded on the pitch. City went with a back three as Guardiola once again tried something different in a big game. Cancelo played as a right wing-back and Phil Foden was deployed on the left but with almost no defensive duties.
Then, instead of the usual attacking wide players, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne supported Haaland from narrow positions. City were not terrible by any means, but Haaland failed to find the net which is a shock in itself these days. Perhaps that was Liverpool’s greatest achievement, keeping a clean sheet against this Man City team.
James Milner was heroic at right-back. Joe Gomez put in a player of the match display at centre-back. And Salah was back to his best. He should have had more than one too. When Fimino played him through in the second half he was only denied by a wonderful save by Ederson. Diogo Jota was screaming for the pass alongside him, but the Egyptian went on his own only to see his effort saved.
There was controversy, as there always is when these two meet. Foden then thought he had put City in front but his goal was disallowed as Erling Haaland was adjudged to have pulled Fabinho’s shirt in the build-up. It left Guardiola apocalyptically furious on the touchline, while Bernardo explained after the game his own frustration.
"What we expect from the referees is consistency with decisions. When you go through a path of not whistling little contacts, throughout the whole game, you need to keep those decisions and keep going that way. If you want to whistle all of them, whistle all of them. But if from the beginning of the game you are not whistling little fouls - and we saw in this game that he was letting us play, which is good, which is fine, then if there is a goal you cannot whistle a soft one. So if you want consistency from the referee you cannot change just because there is a goal. Just because it is a tough decision, you have to make the tough decision and keep the goal in my opinion."
Klopp was left equally as angry with other decisions, as Anthony Taylor rubbed everybody up the wrong way. One in particular, late on, saw him shown a straight red card, but that couldn’t take the shine off this win for the home side.
Anfield delivered. Liverpool are back.
