Liverpool vs Man City’s growing rivalry from Guardiola rage to team bus attack

Liverpool and Manchester City have been battling at the very top season after season, and with the stakes so high for success, a rivalry has formed between the two sides

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In pictures: Porto v Liverpool

Liverpool and Manchester City face-off at Anfield on Sunday and Jurgen Klopp will be eager to make amends for the 4-1 thrashing his side received from Pep Guardiola’s men last season.

The two sides have dominated the Premier League over the last few seasons, as Klopp and Guardiola have made the league a two-horse race in recent times. Although that doesn’t look set to be the case this time around.

With the two locking horns for domestic and European success over the last few seasons, the matches have become more heated than ever, and by default a viscous rivalry is forming.

Liverpool have gotten the better of City on the European stage, a trophy that has evaded Sheikh Mansour since took over the club’s ownership, but the Citizens have finally broken their Anfield duck, creating even more illusion ahead of their next series of bouts this season.

Ahead of Sunday’s clash, Mirror Football takes a look at some of the recent incidents which suggest that the rivalry between Liverpool and City is growing…

Joe Gomez and Raheem Sterling come to blows

In November 2019, Liverpool beat City 3-1 at Anfield to move nine points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side in the Premier League, but an incident involving England teammates Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez caught the eye.

Sterling reacted angrily to a challenge made by Gomez, and the Liverpool defender humiliated the City winger by utilising his height advantage and lifted up his opponent off the ground during a furious exchange.

This didn’t end here though as the pair shortly met up after the incident on international duty with England, and had to be separated in the canteen as Sterling approached Gomez and said “you think you’re the big man now?”, before grabbing the defender, which resulted in a large scratch below his eye.

Sterling was dropped from international duty that week due to his behaviour and later apologised for his actions.

Liverpool fans attack the Manchester City bus

Liverpool fans are well known for welcoming their side to Anfield in a heroic fashion, as the team bus regularly drives through clouds of red smoke as thousands of die-hard fans do their best to get the players fired up ahead of kick-off.

Ultimately though, this support can turn quickly to intimidation, as City found out in 2018 when they arrived at Anfield for the first leg of the Champions League quarter final.

Liverpool fans welcomed the away side in rather barbaric fashion, as bottles, cans and flares were launched at the team bus and although no players or staff were harmed, the vehicle was left unsafe to drive.

City were blown away by Liverpool on the night as the Reds won 3-0 before also winning the second leg at the Etihad, wrapping up tie 5-1 on aggregate.

Pep Guardiola fumes with Michael Oliver over Liverpool decisions

Shortly after Sterling’s incident with Gomez during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over City in November 2019, a furious Guardiola stormed over to referee Michael Oliver as he believed his side should’ve been awarded a penalty shortly before conceding.

Inside the opening 10 minutes of the game, City players appealed for what they though was a handball on Trent Alexander-Arnold, but play resumed and Liverpool went down the other end and opened the scoring thanks to a long-ranged effort from Fabinho.

A VAR-check followed but the goal was awarded and City were denied a penalty despite the protests, and Liverpool went on to win the game much to the disgust of Guardiola.

The Spaniard charged over to the referee at full time, aggressively shook his hand while giving him an almighty stare, and shouted “Thank you so much!” before storming off the field.

Bernardo Silva refuses to congratulate champions Liverpool

Liverpool finally became Premier League champions during the 2019/20 season after twice missing out on the final day to City during both the 2013/14 and 2018/19 campaigns.

Despite Liverpool’s near misses under Brendan Rodgers and Klopp being agonisingly close, they ended up walking to the league title when it was finally their turn, finishing 18 points ahead of City in second.

Liverpool were crowned winners as City lost to Chelsea midway through the season making it mathematically impossible for them to catch the Reds, and to make the occasion even sweeter for Klopp’s side, they faced Guardiola’s men in the following match.

City traditionally formed a guard of honour as they surrendered their crown to new champions Liverpool, but Bernardo Silva refused to clap out Klopp’s side and didn’t take part in the ceremony.

Silva’s actions caused a stir online, with some suggesting that the Portuguese midfielder was a poor sport, with others commending his actions as a display of his competitive nature towards a rival.

Vincent Kompany’s horror challenge on Mohamed Salah

In January 2019, Liverpool travelled to the Etihad Stadium to face City and after just 30 minutes, Mohamed Salah was on the receiving end of a crunching challenge from Vincent Kompany.

The City captain was booked for his dangerous challenge on the Egyptian, but Liverpool were furious that the Belgian hadn’t been sent off as Klopp later said after the game that “Kompany could have ended Salah’s season”.

Pundits such as Robbie Savage and Gary Lineker took to Twitter to express their shock that the defender wasn’t sent off, but with no VAR instilled at this time, the on field decision was final.

Not only did City go on to win the match 2-1, they later went on to win the Premier League title by just a singular point over Liverpool, which may not have been the case if Kompany had seen red.