Jurgen Klopp proved Liverpool vs Manchester City was a friendly, but tough, rivalry by making his Reds stars wait behind after their Community Shield defeat.
The Reds were pipped to the Premier League title by Pep Guardiola's men last season and were again bridesmaids at Wembley.
Raheem Sterling had opened the scoring for City before Joel Matip equalised in the second half to send the clash to penalties.
But Claudio Bravo saved Gini Wijnaldum's effort, the only failure of the shootout, to give City more silverware.
Klopp and his players would obviously have wanted to get off the pitch quickly, but according to the Liverpool Echo, the German made sure his stars stayed put to watch City lift the shield.
The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino and Wijnaldum could be spotted staring up at teh Royal Box, just in front of the dug outs and tunnel.
The optic could well be seen as Liverpool not going anywhere and will keep City honest every step of the campaign.
And Alan Shearer agrees as he has predicted the Reds to get their revenge on the Blues this year.
"Without doubt, it will be Liverpool and Manchester City once again fighting it out for the title," Shearer told the Sun.
"I’m going to stick my neck out here and say Liverpool might just pip City to the league, providing they are more organised in defence than they looked at times on Sunday.
"However, I’m not sure either team will be able to better last season. We were very lucky to witness what we did with Liverpool being so good — and City being just one point better (98)."
