As one of the Premier League's foremost pundits, Jamie Carragher is no stranger to dividing public opinion. In April 2022, the former Liverpool defender claimed the rivalry between his old club and Manchester City was "the greatest, most intense and highest-quality" in English football history, writing in The Telegraph that "the two best teams in England are the two best teams in the world, led by the two greatest coaches of their generation."
Purists quickly dismissed the claim, insisting the honour belonged to the Manchester United and Arsenal sides of the early 2000s, when Sir Alex Ferguson faced Arsene Wenger. Yet given the dominance of Pep Guardiola's City and Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool over the past decade, Carragher's argument was compelling. Across the four Premier League seasons from 2018 to 2022, City and Liverpool amassed 358 and 357 points respectively, out of 456 available to each. John Stones' goal-line clearance against Sadio Mané in January 2019, which stopped the ball crossing the line by just 11.7 millimeters, captured the fine margins of that era. City won the title by a single point.
That legacy is now in question after an independent commission found City guilty of 114 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules. City, who vehemently refute the ruling and have lodged an appeal, will argue that this era of dominance should not be retrospectively tainted. With Liverpool hosting City at Anfield on Sunday, it is hard not to ask whether one of the game's greatest rivalries was ultimately a sham.
Klopp, now head coach of the Germany national team, has shown little appetite for that view. He said he has "big respect" for Guardiola and City's style of football, adding that any sanctions have nothing to do with him. Klopp has long described Guardiola as "the best manager I've coached against." Guardiola has acknowledged that both clubs raised the standard of the Premier League, noting that the 100 and 98 points of those years forced rivals to match the level of the competition.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing