Manchester City suffered a crushing afternoon at Anfield with two goals inside the first 15 minutes set the course for a 3-1 Liverpool win.
Despite a dominant stretch in the opening stages, City shell shocked early by early strikes from Fabinho and Mo Salah. That goal came after a dubious no call where City were twice denied penalty appeals after the ball appeared to strike Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arm.
Mane extended Liverpool’s lead six minutes into the second half.
Bernardo Silva pulled one back on 78 minutes to reduce the deficit but despite applying sustained late pressure with Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus both going close, City were unable to stage a dramatic late comeback.
On to the reaction:
Pep Guardiola Reaction
“Always be positive and never give up, that’s why we won back to back titles,” Guardiola declared.
“We want to fight until the end. We dropped points for our faults. For other things we cannot control.
“There is still seven months to go. If Liverpool win title, I will be the first to congratulate them for how good they are.
“We showed many times why we are the champions. There are three teams in front with more chance to be champions.
“We are going to try and in football, you can’t always win,
”I’m so proud to see my team play in this stadium against that team that way.
“What happened today we showed why we were the champions”
“In this stadium, to play way we played we did incredible... I’m so proud of my team.”
“(We faced the) strongest team in Europe and the way we played, we played so good.”
“I want to talk about our performance - it was so good,” Guardiola added.
“For the performance we had, it was awesome. One of the best.
“In the boxes, it was similar to the Champions League quarter-final (in 2018). Three shots on target, the first three goals.
“We lost because they scored three goals and we scored one
“In football, you can’t always win,
“I’m so proud to see my team play in this stadium against that team that way.”
Bernardo Silva Reaction
“We started on the right foot,” he reflected. “We were playing better than them so when we conceded the first goal, it was quite unfair.
“It’s how it is – we know how Liverpool play: they don’t need much space to create chances. With their first chance, they scored.
“Overall, it was a good performances – we created so many chances – but if I could choose between playing well or not playing well and winning, I prefer to win.
“We have to improve and get better. When we come back, we’ll work hard to start winning again against a tough opponent in Chelsea, who are doing well.
“We’ll try to beat them at home.”
“That’s what happens. You can play better than Liverpool and be 2-0 or 3-0 behind. They are maybe the best team in the world with their counter-attack, second balls and set pieces…
“It was a good performance from us but we want more than a good performance – we want to win.
“At the end of the game, you may feel it’s unfair but it’s football.
“It was 3-1 to them. Congratulations. We’ll fight until the end.
“It’s still November and we still have games to play. We’re not in an ideal position – we don’t want to lose games – and we have to improve.
“We were in this position last season. We’ll never give up.”
Notable Tweets
Tough one to take. We’re sorry to the traveling fans and thanks a lot for your support today. We’ll fight until the end! pic.twitter.com/gtZfusHnWw
— Bernardo Silva (@BernardoCSilva) November 10, 2019
Tough game. Head high and keep pushing. Still a lot to do this season. #wearecity pic.twitter.com/SJFKf3ydE1
— Fernandinho (@fernandinho) November 10, 2019
Atleast the entire world saw this farce - it’s a disgrace
— MCWFC Fan (@ManCityKD) November 10, 2019
VAR is causing so many problems - it needs to be shut down and re booted.
— Jessica Fishlock MBE (@JessFishlock) November 10, 2019
You CANNOT spend as long as they did trying to figure out offside in the Sheff United game & then not even look or show Liverpool & Mo.
It is inconsistent with its use & that is extremely dangerous.
9 point lead now for them. They will bottle it. They bottled 10 last season. And it’s not even Christmas.
— Bitter and Blue (@Bitter_and_Blue) November 10, 2019