Manchester City face Liverpool in their first Premier League fixture since being found guilty of serious financial breaches.
Red flares, smoke-filled pyrotechnics, sternly worded banners and cutting chants are expected.
Manchester City should brace themselves for a raucous and unfriendly welcome when they travel to Anfield for their Premier League clash against Liverpool this Sunday.
Liverpool supporters are furious and intend to channel those emotions into the league leaders, who are playing their first match since being found guilty of violating more than 100 financial regulations.
In a ruling with potential far-reaching consequences for the future of the English top flight, an independent commission determined that City and their Emirati owners had arranged “sham” agreements to artificially inflate revenues and suppress costs by over 900 million pounds ($1.2bn) between 2009 and 2018.
City maintain their innocence and have launched an appeal against the severe verdict.
The various breaches of Premier League regulations occurred during a period in which City secured three league titles and numerous other honours, while Liverpool found it difficult to displace their grip on English football.
City caught a glimpse of the resentment awaiting them when Manchester United supporters taunted them during their 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Man City’s players and manager Enzo Maresca will experience the full force of a potentially volatile welcome from Liverpool fans, who have also waited three weeks for their side to return to action following an extended international break.
Online posts and video responses have made no secret of the anger that Liverpool supporters plan to direct at City.
Spion Kop 1906, the supporters group that organises flag and banner displays on The Kop, the famous single-tier south stand at Anfield, has urged attendees to arrive 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 congregate near the stadium several hours before kickoff ahead of the arrival of the City players’ bus, is also circulating on X.
Another post regarding the bus greeting took a dig at Man City, describing the match as “LFC vs Cheats”.
Merseyside Police said an appropriate policing operation would be in place on the day of the match.
Liverpool fans are no strangers to mounting a hostile welcome for City.
In 2018, during a Champions League quarter-final tie, City’s team bus was attacked with bottles and flares upon arrival 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 perfect 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.”
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