Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Liverpool and Man City seek perfection in pulsating match

Liverpool and Man City seek perfection in pulsating match

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (right) vies with Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte during their English Premier League football match. AFP

Liverpool and Man City seek perfection in pulsating match

Pep Guardiola is demanding perfection from his Manchester City side to keep Liverpool at bay after a pulsating match between the Premier League title challengers finished all square.

Sunday’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad between the two outstanding sides of the current era was billed as a potential title decider even though each have seven matches still to play.

The expectant crowd was treated to a feast of attacking football in Manchester but at the end of it nothing much had changed.

Defending champions City remain just one point ahead of their rivals, who were 14 points off the pace in January.

City were twice pegged back after goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus were cancelled out by Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane.

The City boss said he had a nagging feeling that his side had let Liverpool off the hook when they were on top – they could even have won the match in the dying seconds but Riyad Mahrez lifted his shot over the bar.

“It was a fantastic game from both sides and both sides try to win every game in all competitions,” he said. “I had the feeling that with this result we missed an opportunity, a feeling we leave them alive.”

Although the draw suits City more than Liverpool, Guardiola said his team would have to win all seven of their remaining games to be crowned Premier League winners.

“We know that right now that one game dropped we will not be champion,” he said.

City, chasing a fourth Premer League title in five years, appear to have the easier run-in, with Liverpool still to face Manchester United, Everton and Tottenham.

But Klopp’s team have shown that – City apart – they are a cut above the rest of the teams in the league, as shown by their 10-match winning run before Sunday’s game.

“Nothing’s changed really,” said the Liverpool boss. “So you play 95 minutes of incredibly intense football and you are as smart as before but that’s actually pretty good news.”

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • PM urges end to ‘baseless’ international Ream base accusations

    Prime Minister Hun Sen urges an end to “baseless” foreign accusations surrounding the development of the Kingdom’s Ream Naval Base, as the US has consistently suggested that the base is being expanded to accommodate a Chinese military presence. Hun Sen renewed his calls while

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to