Anfield provided the setting, and Manchester City found the temperature exactly as expected. Liverpool supporters turned the latest meeting between England’s defining recent rivals into a public reckoning over the 115 Premier League charges that have engulfed the visitors.
City nevertheless left Merseyside with the sporting result, beating Liverpool in a match that arrived under exceptional scrutiny. It was their first fixture since the club was found guilty on 114 of the 115 allegations brought by the Premier League, although City have lodged an appeal and no punishment has yet been confirmed.
Quick facts
- Liverpool hosted Manchester City at Anfield.
- City have appealed after being found guilty on 114 of 115 Premier League charges.
- No final sanction has been announced while that process continues.
- Liverpool fans displayed anti-City banners and repeatedly sang “cheats”.
- Manchester City won the match on the pitch.
The contest has become English football’s closest equivalent to a modern clásico. From 2018 through 2025, the Premier League title was won only by these two clubs: City six times and Liverpool twice.
That history gave the afternoon its edge, but the legal case brought a different kind of hostility. As City supporters arrived near the ground, Liverpool fans greeted them with banners and chants accusing the Manchester club of cheating.
Erling Haaland and Pep Guardiola also appeared in fan-made material portraying them as prisoners. One sign adapted Oasis’s “Wonderwall”, declaring: “And after all, you really robbed us all.”
The noise continued after Enzo Maresca’s City side entered the field. “Cheats” rang around Anfield at several stages, reflecting a Liverpool support convinced that alleged City wrongdoing may have cost their club further honours.
For now, that argument remains separate from the outcome of the appeal and the eventual decision on sanctions. But Anfield made clear that City’s European and domestic travels may now carry a similar soundtrack, even as the visitors took the points from one of the season’s most charged stops.
