The Premier League hosted another dramatic and controversial game between Liverpool and Manchester City on Sunday. Despite being heavy underdogs heading into the match, Jurgen Klopp ousted the odds to come out as narrow 1-0 winners – thanks to Mo Salah’s winner.
Salah continued his impressive record against the Citizens, having scored 4 goals in as many home league games against them over the last few seasons. But his impressive counter-attack strike was not exactly the biggest talking point of the game.
That will be for the controversies that happened on the pitch – and off it as well. Jurgen Klopp got sent off in the second half for literally screaming at the assistant referee.
Bernardo Silva shoved and tried squaring up against Virgil van Dijk, after he almost tore Mo Salah’s shirt with a desperate challenge.
While some of the on-the-field tensions are expected in a fiery clash between two of England’s best teams, there were some unfortunate stuff that happened in the stands too.
Having been involved in a number of dramatic title races over the last few seasons, it’s understandable that the City and Liverpool fans can’t stand each other.
Both sets of supporters absolutely wanted to win the game and the travelling City fans were left not only gutted but extremely angry with the loss.
It was probably the way of the loss than anything else after they saw a goal from Phil Foden – which initially gave the Citizens the lead – ruled out due to a slight impediment in the build-up to it.
City fans felt that VAR had robbed them and that the Anfield atmosphere influenced the result.
While the majority of fans accepted the bitter taste of defeat, some wanted to cause some controversy bound to trigger the Liverpool supporters. There were songs heard about the Hillsborough disaster and directly aimed at Liverpool fans.
After full-time, some City fans even decided to deface the Anfield stadium by writing some awful, disgusting things about the disaster.
In one bathroom door, the words ‘Kopites murdering sc*m’ were written along with ‘H97’ – a clear dig at the Liverpool fans lost in the Hillsborough disaster.
Not just that, but another face defaced another door with some awful graffiti. The words ‘Murderers, JFT 39, MCFC’ were written on another door.
This was to signify the Heysel Disaster of 1989, where 39 Juventus supporters passed away after the stadium’s stands collapsed due to overcrowded attendance.
Liverpool has condemned the pathetic chants and vandalism of the stadium, as they said in a statement: “We are deeply disappointed to hear vile chants relating to football stadium tragedies from the away section during today’s game at Anfield.
“The concourse in the away section was also vandalised with graffiti of a similar nature.
“We know the impact such behaviour has on the families, survivors and all those associated with such disasters.
“We are working with the relevant authorities and we will also work with Manchester City in order to do our utmost to ensure these chants are eradicated from football altogether.”
In modern-day football, there is no room for vulgar, offensive chants about a tragedy or any vandalism by any section supporters.
Liverpool, in the end, had the last laugh as they dealt City their first loss of the season and extended their miserable record at Anfield.
