Manchester City shrugged off the threat of swingeing sanctions to beat 10-man Liverpool 3-0 in their first game since being found guilty on more than 100 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules.
Second half goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki on Sunday extended City’s flawless start under Enzo Maresca after Ryan Gravenberch had been sent -off for two yellow cards.
Victory reestablishes City’s three-point lead at the top of the table, but the future of any title challenge rests on the outcome of the club’s appeal against widespread financial impropriety.
An independent commission found City and their Emirati owners arranged “sham” deals to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.2bn) between 2009 and 2018.
No sanction has yet been handed down, but a severe points deduction or even expulsion from the English top-flight is on the table unless City overturns the decision.
There has even been speculation that there could be retrospective action to strip City’s titles.
The multiple breaches of Premier League laws came during a period in which City won three titles and a clutch of other trophies.
City’s rivals believe, however, that the illegal spending during that period also built the foundations for a golden era under former boss Pep Guardiola, who left at the end of last season.
Liverpool were one of the clubs most affected, having finished second to City three times in the past 12 years.
“There are so many moments and memories we can’t get back,” Liverpool fan Martin Reilly, 23, told the AFP news agency. “They have to throw the book at them.”
City arrived under the protection of a police escort with a hostile Anfield welcome expected, but there was no repeat of the violent scenes when their team bus was pelted with bottles ahead of a Champions League clash in 2018.
Liverpool fans lined the streets to greet the visitors with chants of “cheats” and “going down”, while merchandise stalls were littered with flags and scarves mocking City’s financial scandal.
In the iconic Kop end behind one goal, a banner read “a generation of supporters cheated”.
The battles between Guardiola’s City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in recent years became the Premier League’s marquee event.
But with the eyes of the world watching today, Liverpool failed to rise to the occasion on the field.
New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola’s options were blunted without the injured Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo as the Spaniard suffered his first defeat since taking charge of the Reds.
The home side briefly flickered into life at the start of the second half when Lewis Koumas was denied a goal on his first Premier League start by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Abu Dhabi-backed takeover in 2008 transformed City from mid-table mediocrity into the dominant force of the English game.
City’s economic might was on full display to help turn the game, as Maresca could turn to Jeremy Doku off the bench early in the second half.
Within minutes the Belgian winger had been chopped down by Gravenberch, who was shown a second yellow card and Liverpool never recovered.
Doku’s deflected shot was then smashed home by Haaland to break the deadlock 25 minutes from time and open the floodgates.
Three minutes later Doku curled a sensational strike into the top corner himself.
Cherki then exchanged a slick one-two with Josko Gvardiol before slotting under Alisson Becker to rub salt in Liverpool’s wounds.
City midfielder Elliot Anderson told reporters after the game that his side had shown “courage” as they got the win in a hostile atmosphere.
“We have shown togetherness and fight, this is tough place to come and we have shown courage,” he said.
“It [the noise from the Anfield crowd] was more than normal … Arriving and the first 10 minutes of the first half, but we quietened the crowd and improved in the second half.
“During the game you can feel it, and it is a game where you have to stick together and we did.”
