Why Manchester City and Liverpool can be English football’s next great rivalry

Though never quite simply a case of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’, there was always a relative degree of respect between Manchester City and Liverpool, or at least a begrudging acceptance of one another’s existence.

Why? It is difficult to say. The economic advantages brought by the Manchester Ship Canal benefitted as many predecessors of sky blue supporters as it did those of Mancunian red.

There is no geographic or cultural reason why Liverpool should treat City with more kindness than they do Manchester United, nor a reason why City’s hostility towards Liverpool should not be more fierce.

Perhaps it is because for the majority of English football’s post-war history, one of the two clubs has been able to treat the other as something of an irrelevance.

The two jockeyed for the First Division title in 1977, with Liverpool winning out by a point, but by the time Joe Fagan lifted the last of the four European Cups that would come to Anfield over the seven years that followed, City were a second division side.

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Equally, and more recently, what did Roberto Mancini’s 2012 title winners - the team that announced Mansour-era City on the world stage - have to worry about a Kenny Dalglish-managed Liverpool lost in transition, desperately searching for a future in its past?

At that time, Liverpool appeared destined to be the biggest victims of Abu Dhabi’s vast investment. Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s gross mismanagement established the club as the runt of the mid-2000s ‘big four’ litter, leaving them vulnerable to the emergence of new money.

Once their place at the top table was surrendered to a slick, cash-rich ‘project’ intent on total dominance, it appeared near-impossible to win back.

There is a sense that is changing though, in both Manchester and Liverpool, and not simply because of the ill-tempered but exhilarating Champions League quarter-final tie we were all privileged to witness this past week.

Clearly, Pep Guardiola’s City - 13 points clear at the top of the table - have set a new standard of excellence this season and could reign over English football for many more campaigns to come.

Yet while their cerebral, highly structured approach has proved too much for most, it seems to truly struggle when met with the sheer chaos of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, its natural counterpoint.

Tuesday’s 2-1 reverse at the Etihad was Guardiola’s eighth defeat in 14 meetings with Klopp, despite always being able to call upon superior resources. No other manager enjoys a better record and Guardiola cannot help but acknowledge his weakness.

A week ago, the City manager admitted that his approach makes his side “perfect” opponents for Liverpool and they were duly beaten 3-0. Before the return leg, he called for a “perfect game” from his players in order to progress.

Klopp’s response, meanwhile, showed why though both men appear to share a style of play, their methods of achieving it could not be more different. “There is no perfect football team in the world,” the Liverpool manager reminded his counterpart. “The game doesn’t give you the chance to be perfect.”

This is the divide that could define the next few years in English football, so long as Liverpool can build on these successive victories and hold a candle to City next season.

If there is a comparison to make, it is with that aforementioned mid-2000s period and the emergence then of a deep enmity between Liverpool and Chelsea.

While neither club could look back and claim to have dominated that decade, their many encounters in domestic and European competition set a tone for time, defining what was a lean and defensively-minded era but one also of tactical advancement.

Roughly a dozen or so years later, two managers much more adventurous than Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez look ready to leave a legacy through repeated, evenly-matched contests at the very top of the game.

Despite its ambiguous history, Manchester City and Liverpool could well be English football’s next great rivalry.