Fans are still over the moon from witnessing the sheer quality that Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola drew out of their squads in their last dance on Sunday.
The match ended in a 1 – 1 draw which many agree was a befitting result for either side. There was a refereeing controversy but the jury is still out on if it was a failure or not.
One of the men involved in the action and the scorer of City’s goal, John Stones, took the time to thank his teammates for going to Anfield and leaving it all on the pitch.
“We created quite a lot of chances early on in the game and probably could have taken a few better and been two or three up and that’s football,” he said. “We knew what we were coming into here, and the opposition we were playing. We feel a bit deflated in the dressing room.
“We came here to win. We got a point out of the game and it’s such a difficult place to come, we know that.
“We gave everything we had out there. It’s a bit raw for me still right now to analyse the game, with an expectation and willingness of coming here to win.
“I think they’re a top side and we know what quality they’ve got and what they bring to the game. We’ve had a lot of really good games against them, some wins, some losses here over the years.
“The second half was more [of] them than us and it kind of balanced out. We’ll takfe a point today.”
Both teams have dropped into second and third, allowing Arsenal to take the top spot, but the media’s comments on the outcome of the match should make any feelings of failure disappear.
Oliver Holt of the Daily Mail wrote: “When people talk about the many times that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola faced each other in English league football, they will talk about the last meeting most rapturously of all.
“They will talk about a squally day on Merseyside, with a bitterly cold wind blowing in off the River Mersey and they will say that this was their masterpiece.”
Journalist Melissa Reddy then praised Arsenal for catching up to the standards set by Liverpool and Man City after applauding the 1 – 1 draw between both teams.
“Another wildly absorbing, enlivening, exhausting battle between two teams that have come to define an era and rewrite what it takes to be champions of England,” Reddy posted to her X (formerly Twitter) account.
“Superb from Arsenal to rise to the level Manchester City and Liverpool have set. Some title race we’re being treated to!”
Both teams now have to keep an unbeaten run to stand a chance of toppling Arsenal, who have a better head-to-head record than they do. This applies especially to Manchester City, who host Arsenal on 31 March.
