Jurgen Klopp said his new-look Liverpool team passed a test as they got a draw at the Etihad Stadium to end Manchester City’s 100 percent winning record at home in 2023.
City had won 23 consecutive matches on their own turf, including a 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool in April, until Trent Alexander-Arnold’s equaliser got Liverpool a point.
And it means that Liverpool have still only lost one league game this season, when they were reduced to nine men at Tottenham, and got a point in what Klopp believes is the toughest game in world football and at a venue where they have not won in the Premier League since 2015.
“I think we passed a test, I am not sure if it was the test,” he said. “Last year we had a team that played long together and we got completely under the wheels here and had no chance. Today we had a chance. I am not silly: if you ask who was more likely to win the game it was City, obviously. We don’t check if we are as good as City.
“But if we had played really well, we could have won. This is a really tough place to come and it is a not a coincidence they have won I don’t know how many in a row at home. They are a super team. We’re still in a process. If we’d played really well today, we could have won – we didn’t. I told the boys at half-time, imagine what it would be like if we were playing well.”
Klopp was delighted with the performance of Alexander-Arnold, who had to be on his guard against the quick City winger Jeremy Doku,
“He played a really good game,” he said. “With the position we changed him [at half-time] and made more clear where he has to be and still his moments with Doku. You could see how difficult it is against him: he is a really good dribbler.”
Klopp stepped in at the final whistle to break up an altercation between Guardiola and Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez. The German, who was sent off against Liverpool last season, joked it was uncharacteristic that he was not involved and admitted he was not sure what two Spanish speakers were discussing.
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“Emotions,” he explained. “I am not sure I am the one to explain it. I am not involved, surprisingly! I love them both so I just tried to calm it down, without understanding a word. Pep wants to win, we want to win.”
The concern for Klopp was that Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker could be sidelined after seeming to pick up a muscle injury while Diogo Jota, who was substituted, will also be monitored.
“The shadow on this game is that Ali felt something and Diogo felt something,” he said. “That is something we have to assess.”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said the officials were right to disallow a goal from Ruben Dias that would have put City 2-0 up, explaining: “It’s a foul. There is not much to say about it. It’s pretty clear you can’t foul the goalkeeper and that’s what happened.”