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LONDON. — Jurgen Klopp puffed out his cheeks and listed the run of games stretching out ahead of Liverpool.
”Man United, Everton, Villarreal, Newcastle, Villarreal,” said Klopp.
Pep Guardiola referenced the ones his Manchester City team had just played. ”Atletico, Liverpool, Atletico, Liverpool,” he reminded us.
The point being made was the same. The battle between these two remarkable coaches’ teams is as physically and emotionally exacting as any we can recall. From here to the end of May, it will only grow more intense.
This absorbing but slightly strange game removed City from one part of the equation. There will be no FA Cup, no treble, for Guardiola. Still, though, the meat in the sandwich remains. The struggle between City and Liverpool for the title rolls on. Liverpool host United tonight. City are at home to Brighton the next day.
And then there is the Champions League. To think that these two stellar teams could convene in Paris is almost too perfect to contemplate. But it could happen.
Sitting in the press room on Saturday, both managers looked spent and it’s only Easter. Such is the nature of this remarkable rivalry. Over six days, City and Liverpool have shared nine goals. A 2-2 league draw at the Etihad followed by this arm wrestle in the sun.
Liverpool edged it and will face Chelsea in the final. They have not won the FA Cup for 16 years and that is too long. But it was hard to view this occasion in the context of a single game. It felt more like a staging post in a great modern rivalry that will be defined for now by what happens further down the road this season.
At half-time — with Klopp’s team 3-0 ahead thanks to Ibrahima Konate’s header and two Sadio Mane goals — it felt as though we were witnessing a change in the momentum of the season.
City had been the better team six days earlier but were on the brink of being embarrassed. A heavy defeat could have holed them fatally. But by full-time, Guardiola’s team had clawed back ground not only in the game as Liverpool hung on desperately, but in what is a psychological battle also. In the end, Liverpool won by the skin of their teeth. As City poured forward at the death, Liverpool were one accurate shot away from being on the wrong end of another Istanbul.
Klopp would not hear talk of a mental shift in favour of his team while Guardiola only conceded: ”Maybe if we meet in Paris.”
There is much football to be played before then. But what we learned on Saturday is that the battle of will is fundamental. From here to the finish, it will be about that as much as the action.
”It is incredibly intense,” said Klopp of the demands placed on his team.
”It is extremely unlikely both of us win all our games.”
The statistics don’t endorse Klopp’s argument. His team have lost once this calendar year while City have tasted defeat twice since December 7. When these teams last raced to the line in the league like this — in City’s 2019 title year — they just kept winning.
What we saw here was different, though, and so Klopp is probably right. This game was thrilling but also highlighted human and sporting frailties. It was skittish and frantic. Mistakes were made. Control was hard to come by. — Mailonline
Online Reporter