Three weeks of outrage were supposed to end with Manchester City being made to suffer at Anfield. Instead, the club still waiting to learn its own punishment profited from one handed out on the spot: Ryan Gravenberch's disputed 62nd-minute red card opened the door, and City walked through it to a 3-0 win over Liverpool.
Key takeaways
- Liverpool 0-3 Manchester City – City's first outing since being found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules.
- The turning point: Gravenberch, already booked, was sent off in the 62nd minute for a challenge on Jeremy Doku that looked harmless.
- The scorers: Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki – all three goals came after the dismissal.
- The backdrop: 'GUILTY' flags, chants of 'cheats' and a City team bus sneaking in through a back entrance.
A reception three weeks in the making
Few Premier League fixtures have ever arrived with this much noise around them. With a crowd massed on Anfield Road waiting for the visitors, City's coach took a back route into the stadium to avoid them. Outside, the stalls were doing brisk trade in flags printed with a single word – 'GUILTY' – and Oasis-inspired T-shirts reworking a famous album title into '(What's the Story) Tainted Glory'.
The travelling support answered with defiance and a heavy dose of self-mockery. They brought inflatable bananas, a nod to a Maine Road terrace craze from the 1980s, sang Sheikh Mansour's name and cheerfully threw the 'cheats' label back at their hosts. When the home end launched into 'You'll Never Walk Alone', much of the away section turned its back on the pitch and broke into the Poznań.
City rattled, but the first half fizzles out
The atmosphere lifted Liverpool early on and visibly unsettled some of the visitors. Marc Guéhi had a nervy start: he was robbed of the ball by Victor Muñoz and conceded a cheap free-kick, then got in his own goalkeeper's way when dealing with a Milos Kerkez cross.
Tempers flared in the 11th minute, when City's £116m signing Elliot Anderson and Alexis Mac Allister squared up, drawing in players from both sides and another round of 'cheat' chants from the stands. That, however, was as dramatic as the opening 45 minutes got. Neither goalkeeper had a serious save to make, and the football never came close to matching the build-up.
The red card that changed everything
The game caught fire after the break. Two minutes into the second half Gravenberch was booked for a heavy challenge on Anderson, whose reaction cranked the volume back up. When referee Chris Kavanagh then showed City their first yellow – to academy graduate Nico O'Reilly, another who seemed affected by the occasion, for a late tackle on Muñoz – the roar from the home fans was worthy of a goal.
Then came the decisive moment. In the 62nd minute Gravenberch went into a challenge on substitute Jeremy Doku that appeared innocuous, yet it earned the Dutchman his marching orders and left Liverpool with ten men for the final half hour.
How the game was won
- 62' – Red card: Gravenberch dismissed after a challenge on Doku.
- 0-1 – Haaland: three minutes later, a left-footed half-volley into the far corner after Doku's cross deflected into his path.
- 0-2 – Doku: another three minutes on, cutting in from the left and curling a right-footed shot into the top corner.
- 0-3 – Cherki: a piece of footwork that put Alisson on the turf, followed by a calm finish into the far corner.
Haaland, Doku and Cherki finish the job
Erling Haaland had barely been involved before the sending-off. His first real opening came when Antoine Semenyo dispossessed Kerkez and slipped him through, only for the Norwegian to roll his shot wide with just Alisson to beat. He did not waste the next one, hammering in the opener within three minutes of Liverpool going a man down.
Doku, outstanding after coming off the bench, doubled the lead with a superb solo effort, and Rayan Cherki silenced what was left of the crowd with the third.
The bottom line
The irony will not be lost on anyone: a club found guilty of 114 breaches and still awaiting its sanction was the one to benefit from instant justice on the pitch. With City's three goalscorers having cost a combined £137m, the result will only deepen the sense of grievance among their critics – though by full-time, few Liverpool supporters had stayed behind to voice it.
