Celebrate the Liverpool rivalry...

The north-west clubs are entering a period in which they will be going head-to-head for major honours

FROM the moment the draw that nobody wanted came out, the trolling, sniping, clichés and nervous delirium flooded onto social media. Liverpool have European heritage trumpeted the Red contingent. Liverpool resides only in history, responded the Blue. The Merseyside Messi is better than Kevin De Bruyne claimed Reds prompting replies strewn with spelling errors because it’s hard to type properly when your shoulders are convulsing in uncontrollable hysterics.

The all-English Champions League pairing of Liverpool and Manchester City brought out the best and the worst in everybody and inevitably their two domestic clashes from earlier this season were hauled back onto the post-mortem table. It was Sadio Mane’s red card that decided the memorable game at the Etihad back in September. Not the scintillating, fluid fare served up by a side revelling in all of their artistry coming together like a perfect storm. That was irrelevant compared to a dismissal when already a goal down. As for City, it was apparently a bad ten minute spell that did them in at Anfield. Not the home side bossing proceedings throughout in the manner of ravenous wolves.
It is worthy to note in both instances the outright refusal to credit the opposition with an inch and this from fan-bases who are better than most at doing precisely that.

Then, with a weary sigh, we get to the not-so-rarefied subject of atmosphere, with many of a red persuasion immediately pinpointing the noisy environs of Anfield as a significant factor in determining the tie’s outcome. The very notion that wizened World Cup winners and battle-hardened players raised in South American lunacy will shrink under the intimidation of decibels and the waving of flags is a farcical one and frankly wouldn’t be worthy of contradictory words here, were it not for the flyer that accompanied the delusion. Shared virally the ‘coach greeting’ plans ‘banners and bangers’ and ‘pints and pyros’ but sadly omits balloons from this silly little children’s party that promises to ‘show them what money can’t buy’. Class evidently is not one of those things, and as many Liverpool supporters cringed to their core at this embarrassment as there were City fans lapping up every detail.

A quick word on this before we thankfully move on: the beauty and brilliance of Anfield’s European nights lay in its authenticity. When you plan every aspect it becomes as manufactured as plastic clappers and thereby loses all credibility.

Anyway, City fans found it all extremely amusing. That’s the upshot. It was celebrated like an own goal erred by a mouthy opposition player all the way from the halfway line. They stopped chuckling though, when the second leg was brought into the argument. ‘Emptyhad’ indeed.

Lastly, among all of this nonsense and jibes, there were those whose response to the draw was to attempt to predict the unpredictable. Godspeed to those blessed few who tried to pin down logic to two games that could conceivably be as mental as a bag of frogs. It’s going to be a classic and probably end up 11-10 on aggregate: that seemed to be the general consensus.m
And they’re right, it absolutely could, and furthermore the helter skelter, thrills-n-spills savagery of intent and ambition and utter belief in their ideals on display for 180 minutes early next month will be – as much as the phrase is anathema – a fantastic advert for English football, damning Manchester United’s Sevilla cowardice by example and all played out between two clubs that have developed a healthy hatred for one another in recent years.

The emergence of Liverpool’s rivalry with City – and for that matter City’s rivalry with Liverpool – is a thoroughly modern one born from the tempestuous title race of 2013/14. Already it comes mighty close to matching the gnarly needle that exists between Chelsea and Liverpool, and that’s before the locking of horns in the type of Champions League epic that widened the north/south divide in the first place. It is admittedly not yet in the same stratosphere as the fear and loathing of Liverpool and United but give it time because it’s only just getting warmed up. It’s certainly heading in that direction.

Why is it always Liverpool, you may ask, who are involved in such antagonistic grudges? Because they ‘get’ it, that’s why. They are ace like that and they get it. They get that football has been infantilised and plasticised with all the edges smoothed and all to attract another day-tripper with a wallet full of credit. They get that the game now says please and thank you beyond the pubs and twitter. They get that there is nothing more invigorating and affirming than having a nemesis to measure against and hate to your bones.

There is another reason too of course. Once they were kings and ever since then they scowl at whoever occupies a throne they deem to be theirs, even though the throne in question has been upholstered so many times since the nineteen-eighties it is – in terms of pure DNA – not even the same throne anymore.

Regardless, the rivalry between Liverpool and City is only set to escalate.  The league may presently tell us a different story by a couple of points but it is Liverpool who are best equipped to challenge City for honour and honours in seasons to come, with United and Arsenal both starring in a soap opera take on Groundhog Day, Chelsea imploding, and Spurs perennially butting their head against a glass ceiling. Given the contrasting styles of football, the eccentrically charismatic coaches at the helm, not to mention the historical standing of one fan-base duelling with another who can boast a 21 point advantage from their potentially extraordinary team, then we could be looking at a conflict that compels and fascinates like never before.

Nobody wanted this draw, yet for all the reasons why that’s so it should also have been celebrated too. Not an inch will be given in the weeks to come and not a please or thank you heard. Hallelujah for that.

Stephen Tudor - Unibet.