Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool
8 November 2020, Premier League
Kevin De Bruyne’s missed penalty in the 42nd minute, only the second time he had erred from the spot, shaped a lockdown contest Liverpool went at with conviction, as Jürgen Klopp boldly selected Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. With such an onus on unfettered attack it was little wonder Kyle Walker soon found himself on the wrong side of Mané and brought down the Liverpool winger for a clear penalty, which Salah smashed into the net.
City’s equaliser swiftly followed as a De Bruyne pass found Gabriel Jesus who outfoxed Trent Alexander-Arnold with a deft first touch and spin before prodding past Alisson. But then came De Bruyne’s fluffed spot-kick, awarded on VAR advice after his cross struck Joe Gomez on the arm.
Jesus blew a gilt-edged chance on 55 minutes after João Cancelo picked him out, alone to the left of goal, but his header was all wrong. A draw ensured City’s worst start to a league season since 2008 as Liverpool rode their luck for the draw.
Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool
2 July 2020, Premier League
A guard of honour for Klopp’s newly crowned champions by their predecessors in an empty, echoing Etihad stripped of fans by Covid preceded a withering defeat for Liverpool (who had just thumped Crystal Palace 4-0). Raheem Sterling turned on his old club with furious conviction, grabbing one goal and creating another as City scored three times in 20 first-half minutes.
De Bruyne opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Sterling was felled by Gomez. Sterling followed that with a goal from a City counterattack and Phil Foden made it three before half-time after a quick exchange with De Bruyne. Their fourth arrived in the second half when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored an own goal from Sterling’s low drive. Klopp was forced to admit: “Man City are incredible. I saw their season, they didn’t play a bad game.”
Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool
3 January 2019, Premier League
Klopp was incensed Vincent Kompany was not sent off in the first half for a two-footed lunge on Salah – “I really like Vincent Kompany but how on earth is that not a red card? He is last man and he goes in. If he hits Mo more he is out for the season” – to cap a frustrating defeat for the Premier League pacesetters.
With City hard on Liverpool’s heels in the title race, the visitors suffered a setback as the deficit was cut to four points and, but for an astonishing goalline clearance from John Stones, may have emerged with a valued point.
Sergio Agüero’s near-post drive put the home side into the lead five minutes before half-time and Liverpool responded via a Firmino stooping header at the midway point of the second half. But 18 minutes from time Leroy Sané unleashed a diagonal shot past Alisson to score via the far post, thus ending Liverpool’s 20-match unbeaten run.
Manchester City 1-2 Liverpool
10 April 2018, Champions League
A win for Klopp at the Etihad, but Liverpool were made to battle hard for it and a place in the last four of the Champions League, as well as survive a disallowed goal before half-time. That decision so enraged Guardiola that he was banished to the Colin Bell Stand.
City had plenty of work to do to save their Champions League status after their 3-0 defeat in the first leg at Anfield but the tie was beyond them once Salah had clipped in Liverpool’s equaliser in the second half.
That said, after Jesus put City up inside two minutes, had Sané’s goal late in the first half not been wrongly ruled offside the outcome may well have been different. The 5-1 aggregate did not reflect City’s thwarted efforts and it was unfortunate for the home side that Firmino’s winner came straight from a misplaced Nicolás Otamendi pass.
Of guiding Liverpool to the semi-finals for the first time since 2008, Klopp noted with characteristic understatement: “It’s quite a cool moment.”
Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool
19 March 2017, Premier League
Adam Lallana was left to rue his late miss from six yards out that denied Liverpool all three points in this thrilling draw. The errant England international was not alone in squandering a clear chance as Agüero, the scorer of City’s equaliser, missed another opportunity a few minutes later.
Guardiola called the match “one of the most special days of my life” as it came after a woeful Champions League exit against Monaco. Liverpool were fortunate to finish with a full complement of 11 players after the referee missed James Milner’s foul on Sterling denying the City forward a near-certain goal in the first half. Milner’s opener from the penalty spot arrived after Gaël Clichy flattened Firmino.
Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool
9 September 2017, Premier League
Klopp’s first Etihad meeting with a Guardiola City side set the tone for the misery that would endure. Mané’s flying studs poleaxed Ederson eight minutes before half-time to reduce Liverpool to 10 men and Klopp’s overwhelmed players crumbled in the face of a De Bruyne-inspired City. It was Liverpool’s heaviest defeat in Manchester for 70 years.
City were one goal up courtesy of Agüero when Mané received his marching orders and Jesus headed in a second in the time added on at the end of the first half, going on to make the scoreline 3-0 early in the second half. Two more goals arrived from the substitute Sané, capping his pair with a curling shot from 25 yards into the top corner.
Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool
21 November 2015, Premier League
Klopp, freshly installed at Liverpool, oversaw the heaviest home defeat City had suffered in 12 years (since a 5-1 thrashing against Arsenal at Maine Road in February 2003). Manuel Pellegrini’s side were three goals down after 33 minutes as City’s tormentor in chief Philippe Coutinho scored one and played a pivotal role in the visitors’ other two.
The rout began after eight minutes as Eliaquim Mangala knocked Firmino’s cross into his own goal. Midway through the first half Coutinho met a Firmino cross from the right flank to score from eight yards and a third arrived after Emre Can’s backheel unpicked the City defence, allowing Coutinho to slip a little pass to his right beyond Joe Hart and leave Firmino with an open goal.
Agüero briefly offered City a flicker of hope with a goal before half-time but Liverpool turned the screw in the second half and could have bagged more than Martin Skrtel’s 81st-minute shot.
For once the City manager revealed his displeasure at his side’s capitulation. “I am more than angry, it is difficult to understand why we played so poorly,” Pellegrini said. Klopp, however, was understandably pleased and was not exaggerating when he said: “We could possibly have won by more than 4-1 but there is no need to be greedy. A result like this should help the boys start to believe in themselves.”
