Pep Guardiola bouncing around the technical area in unmitigated fury, Phil Foden destroying James Milner and Manchester City twice coming from behind to take a point away from Anfield.
Just another standard clash between the two best teams in England.
And yet it could have been so different had referee Paul Tierney seen Milner’s desperate clip on Foden in the first half as a penalty - but the official deemed no foul had been committed, and the VAR backed that up.
The referee also backed away from making the obvious decision when Milner, already on a yellow card for once cynical take-down of Foden, stretched out a leg to bring down Bernardo Silva in the second half - clear bookable offence, but Miler escaped, leaving Guardiola apoplectic.
City dominated for long spells, and with Foden in mercurial mood always looked the more likely team to win it - but in the end had to twice fight back from behind to level, through the Stockport ace and Kevin De Bruyne.
Three big games in a week have seen City emerge with four points and with no serious damage done to their Champions League qualification hopes - and they were excellent in all three.
The way they refused to lie down, despite their domination failing to secure a lead at Anfield, was exemplary and spoke of a team that is in shape to defend its Premier League title. With the Kop back in place, City expected an early storm from the home side, but these days they place great faith in their own defensive ability.
The fact they have conceded just one goal in the Premier League this season - and that coming in the opening game when they were not back to full strength or up to speed with fitness - is a significant stat.
For all the huffing and puffing of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in that opening spell, the heavy metal football looked more like a touch of soft rock, Metallica turned into Bon Jovi by the Blues’ excellence.
City’s problem early on was that they defended well but kept giving the ball away, inviting Liverpool to have another bash.
Once that was sorted, the Blues started to play out - and the passing and the pressing got sharper and faster.
They found a vulnerability down the Liverpool right flank, where Trent Alexander-Arnold meant former City man James Milner had been pressed into action.
With Joao Cancelo flying at him, and Phil Foden in irrepressible mood, the former England midfielder’s legs looked decidedly wobbly.
Bernardo Silva was reprising the all-action role, sitting a little deeper, that earned him huge plaudits at Chelsea last week.
But the Portugal international showed everyone why he was nicknamed “Bubblegum” as a kid with an astonishing run from inside his own half, when he was surrounded by three Liverpool players but turned and twisted his way out before setting off on a mazy run which he capped with a perfectly-placed pass to Foden.
The finish would have made it the assist of the season, but Foden rushed his shot and Alisson spread himself well to block.
But it became increasingly apparent that loosing Foden on Milner was paying dividends, and when another dashing run saw the Yorkshireman unable to match the pace, and catch Foden as the City man ran past him into the box, it looked a penalty.
Milner may have been saved by the fact that VAR deemed the initial contact was outside the box, which it undoubtedly was - but they needed to look more carefully as the touch that caused Foden to fall was the second one, when he HAD moved inside the area.
Foden was incensed, Guardiola shrugged his shoulders as if not getting penalty decisions is just de rigueur at Anfield.
The puzzlement was intensified by the fact that nothing was given, not even a free kick outside the box - while Joao Cancelo was booked for committing exactly the same foul on Milner early in the second half.
It transpired that the video assistant decided that no foul was committed, which is astonishing.
But that contest was clearly going to be City’s best way of exposing Liverpool, and that was underlined when another long pass sent Foden racing, and this time the Liverpool man got a yellow card for bringing him down.
Guardiola had, unsurprisingly, named the same starting XI that won at Chelsea but the only tweak was to switch Foden and Jack Grealish, with the £100million man asked to sacrifice his game for the good of the team.
It may look like an odd way to utilise the most expensive player English football history, but that ignores the fact that Foden is exceptional - and his pace exposed MIlner in a way that Grealish’s more subtle skills maybe would not.
Liverpool again switched it up at the start of the second half, with Diogo Jota twice twisting to fashion chances, the second forcing a fine save from Ederson.
City still looked comfortable, but the feeling that they would rue those missed chances would not go away.
And so it proved as Liverpool went ahead on 59 minutes.
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Mo Salah did the damage, skipping away from Cancelo, who had been very good in attack and defence before that moment, and accelerating away down the Liverpool right. He chose an exact pass for Mane, and the Senegal striker picked out the far corner.
But City did not panic, they kept plugging away and trusting in their ability.
And it was Jesus, who has been a surprise package for the Blues on the right-hand side this season, who made the difference for the equaliser.
Picking the ball up wide, he ranged inside, running across the face of the Liverpool back four and forcing them to stay in position before slipping the ball to Foden.
In a similar position to his first half chance, this time he unerringly picked out the far corner.
Now the game could swing either way, and it was clear ref Paul Tierney might be a key figure.
That was the case as Bernardo drifted past Milner, who stuck his leg behind him to trip the City man.
Liverpool went ahead again as Salah brilliantly danced and twisted his way into the box and somehow squeezed his shot past Ederson to restore the home team's lead.
But again City hit back, Foden doing the damage once more with run down the left and pull-back which was stepped over by Kyle Walker for De Bruyne to strike left-footed, with Joel Matip's attempt to block the shot only helping to wrong-foot Alisson.
City were grateful to Rodri pulling off a remarkable diving block on Fabinho when the Liverpool man looked sure to score late in the game - that would have been a travesty.
