Man City face Liverpool in their first game since being found guilty of serious EPL financial breaches.
Red flares, smoke-filled pyrotechnics, strongly worded banners and trenchant chants.
Manchester City can expect a raucous and hostile reception when they arrive at Anfield for their Premier League match against Liverpool on Sunday.
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Liverpool supporters are angry, and they are planning to parade their emotions for City as the league leaders play their first match since being found guilty of breaking more than 100 financial rules.
In a decision that could have a drastic effect on the future of the English top flight, an independent commission found that City and their Emirati owners had arranged “sham” deals to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.2bn) from 2009 to 2018.
City, who deny any wrongdoing, have appealed against the devastating verdict.
The multiple breaches of Premier League regulations came during a period when City won three league titles and a clutch of other trophies while Liverpool struggled to break City’s stranglehold on the game in England.
City were given a taste of the resentment that awaits them when Manchester United fans goaded them during their 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Man City’s players and manager Enzo Maresca will get the full taste of a potentially fiery reception from Liverpool fans, who have also waited three weeks to watch their team back in action after the extended international break.
Social media posts and video reactions have made no secret of the anger that will be directed towards City by Liverpool’s supporters.
Spion Kop 1906, a Liverpool supporters group that organises flag and banner displays on The Kop, the famous single-tier south stand at Anfield, urged attendees to come prepared to show their support when the Reds host Man City.
“There’s loads riding on Sunday’s game on and off the pitch, but it’s down to us as a collective to bring the noise and get behind the team,” Spion Kop said on X.
“Bring your flags, bring your scarves and be at it from the very first minute.”
‘LFC vs Cheats’
A social media post promoting a “Bus greeting”, urging Liverpool supporters to gather near the stadium several hours before kickoff ahead of the arrival of the City players’ bus, is also making the rounds on X.
Another post about the bus greeting took a dig at Man City, describing the match as “LFC vs Cheats”.
Merseyside Police said there would be an appropriate policing operation in place on the day of the match.
Liverpool fans are no strangers to creating a hostile welcome for City.
In 2018 during a Champions League quarterfinal tie, City’s team bus was attacked with bottles and flares when it arrived at Anfield. Liverpool were subsequently fined 20,000 euros ($22,400) by UEFA, European football’s governing body.
Dom Farrell, author of the book Glory Days for the Waifs and Strays, which chronicled City’s rise from the third tier to European champions, expected Sunday’s showdown to be “massively hostile”.
“If they were to win against Liverpool and then beat an off-form Paris Saint-Germain [in the Champions League on Wednesday], you really get a siege mentality going,” Farrell told the AFP news agency.
“But there’s also a decent chance they get turned over, and then it just starts to feel like you’re in this sort of dead zone waiting for the verdict.”
‘Brutal day’
Former Manchester United captain and England defender Gary Neville expected Sunday to be a “brutal day” for visiting Man City, who lead the standings with a 100 percent record and are six points ahead of Liverpool.
“If they want an understanding of how angry the game is going to be, then Anfield will tell them like you would never believe,” Neville said on The Overlap podcast.
“I suspect there may be banners. There will certainly be chanting. There will be a reception like you have never seen for them at Anfield.”