Liverpool F.C.–Manchester City F.C. rivalry

The Liverpool F.C.–Manchester City F.C. rivalry is an inter-city rivalry between English professional football clubs Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool play their home games at Anfield, while Manchester City play their home games at the Etihad Stadium.
Though Liverpool and Manchester City were first involved in a title race in the 1976–77 season, their modern-day rivalry began in the mid-2010s, since which time the clubs have been in three close title races with each other and reached five UEFA Champions League finals, winning one each. Since the 2017–18 season, at which time Liverpool were managed by Jürgen Klopp and Manchester City by Pep Guardiola, the two clubs dominated English football, with one of the two winning every Premier League title, three out of seven FA Cups and six out of seven EFL Cups. During this period, the two clubs set six of the eight highest Premier League points totals since 1995, when the number of games for each team per season was reduced to 38. Players and managers from Liverpool and City have also dominated the individual awards in English football since 2017–18: each Premier League Player of the Season award, PFA Players' Player of the Year award and FWA Footballer of the Year award, and four out of five Premier League Young Player of the Season awards, went to players from the two clubs, and each Premier League Manager of the Season award went to either Guardiola or Klopp.
The quality of the rivalry has been praised, with pundit and former Liverpool and England player Jamie Carragher describing it in 2022 as "the best we've ever had in English football... We've never had the two best teams and managers in the world together fighting it out." In 2022, the BBC noted that the two clubs "have produced a rivalry in recent years that has taken the standard of English football to another level."
The cities of Liverpool and Manchester are located in the north west of England, 35 miles (56 km) apart. Since the industrial revolution there has been a consistent theme of rivalry between the two cities based around economic and industrial competition. Manchester through to the 18th century was the far more populous city, and held a position of significance and notability as representative of the north. By the late 18th century, Liverpool had grown as a major sea port – critical to the growth and success of the northern cotton mills. Over the next century, Liverpool grew to supersede Manchester and throughout the late 19th and early 20th century was often described as the British Empire's second city. The links between the two cities were strengthened with the construction of the Bridgewater Canal, the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, and the world's first inter-city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, for the transport of raw materials inland.
The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, funded by Manchester merchants, was opposed by Liverpool politicians and bred resentment between the two cities. Tension between working class Liverpool dockers and labourers in Manchester was heightened after its completion in 1894, just three months prior to the first meeting between Liverpool and Newton Heath in a play-off match that would see Newton Heath relegated to the Second Division.
Today, the crests of both the city of Manchester and Manchester City include stylised ships representing the Manchester Ship Canal and Manchester's trade roots. The ship is also included on the crest of many other Mancunian institutions such as Manchester City Council and rivals Manchester United.
Post-war shifts in economic ties, reliance on regional coal, and shifts in transatlantic trade patterns caused by the growth of Asian labour markets caused the gradual decline of British manufacturing. While the city of Liverpool suffered the loss of its primary source of income to southern port cities, Manchester maintained some of its manufacturing heritage. This reversal of fortunes happened against the backdrop of shifting political backgrounds and significant events in British culture and society in the second half of the 20th century.
Both cities were part of the county of Lancashire until March 1974, upon the enactment of the Local Government Act 1972. Since then, Liverpool and Manchester each respectively anchor the neighbouring metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
The two cities continue to be strong regional rivals, vying for influence of surrounding areas. Their continued importance to the UK economy has been reflected with the awarding of the 2002 Commonwealth Games to Manchester, while Liverpool was awarded the title of 2008 European Capital of Culture as part of its ongoing regeneration.
More recent projects by Peel Ports have sought to re-establish the economic links between the Port of Liverpool and Port of Manchester, including re-developing trade links via the Manchester Ship Canal.
Liverpool and Manchester City were not traditional rivals, with Liverpool having had much more success historically. At the time of the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover of City in 2008, Liverpool had won five European Cups, a record eighteen domestic top-flight league titles, seven FA cups and a record seven Football League Cups; City, conversely had won zero European Cups, two domestic top-flight league titles, four FA Cups and two Football League Cups. By 2008, however, neither team were dominant domestically, with Liverpool having not won a top-flight league title since 1990, and City since 1968.
The modern rivalry began in the 2013–14 Premier League season. The 2012–13 champions, Manchester United, had a relatively poor season following the retirement of Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in English football history. Liverpool, under Brendan Rodgers, and Manchester City, in their first season under Manuel Pellegrini, engaged in a three-way title race with Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, with each team leading at various points in the season. At the end of the season, Liverpool were at the top of the table with two games to go, but a 3–3 draw away at Crystal Palace — after leading 3–0 with 11 minutes to go — allowed City to take the lead, which they held to win the title.
Neither Liverpool nor Manchester City made a serious challenge for the league title in the next three seasons, though during the 2015–16 season – Liverpool's first under manager Jürgen Klopp – the two met in the final of the League Cup. After a 1–1 draw in normal time and no goals scored in extra time, City won the penalty shoot-out 3–1.
In the 2017–18 season, Manchester City – now managed by Pep Guardiola – comfortably won the league title with a top-flight record of 100 point, as well as winning the League Cup. They met Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Liverpool winning 5-1 on aggregate. Liverpool would go on to reach the Champions League final, losing to Real Madrid.
In the 2018–19 season, the rivalry between the two clubs reached new heights, as both Liverpool and Manchester City were involved in a very close title race. City won the league title on the final day, finishing on 98 points to Liverpool's 97 – the third- and fourth- highest points totals in English top-flight history. City also won the 2018–19 FA Cup and League Cup for an unprecedented 'domestic treble', while Liverpool won their English record-extending sixth European Cup with victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the final.
In the 2019–20 season, Manchester City defeated Liverpool on penalties in the 2019 FA Community Shield and also won their third League Cup in a row. Liverpool, however, dominated the league season, and after City's defeat to Chelsea in June, Liverpool mathematically won their nineteenth league title (and first in the Premier League era), finishing on 99 points, the second-highest total in English top-flight history. City finished in second, 18 points behind.
In the 2020–21 season, Liverpool had a less successful season, losing many key players to injury. Manchester City won the league title comfortably, along with their fourth League Cup in a row. They also reached their first European Cup final, losing to Chelsea.
In the 2021–22 season, Liverpool and Manchester City were once more involved in a close title race. City again won the league title on the final day, finishing on 93 points to Liverpool's 92. Liverpool won the League Cup and the FA Cup, knocking City out in the semi-finals of the latter competition. They also reached the final of the Champions League, losing again to Real Madrid.
In the 2022–23 season, Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-1 in the 2022 FA Community Shield, but could not repeat the previous season's form in the league, ultimately finishing fifth. City enjoyed their most successful season to date, becoming just the second English side to win a 'continental treble' – the Premier League, FA Cup and their first Champions League, which they won by defeating Inter Milan in the final. They also knocked Liverpool out in the fourth round of the League Cup, before being knocked out themselves in the quarter-finals.
In the 2023-24 season, City won their record fourth consecutive league title after a close race with Arsenal. Jurgen Klopp announced in January that this would be his final season with Liverpool, who won their record-extending tenth League Cup.
Players and managers from Liverpool and City have dominated the individual awards in English football since 2018, with each Premier League Player of the Season award, FWA Footballer of the Year award, PFA Players' Player of the Year award and Premier League Young Player of the Season award going to players from the two clubs, and each Premier League Manager of the Season award going to either Guardiola or Klopp.
A large part of the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City which has developed since the late 2010s has been that of the rivalry of their managers, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola respectively.
Though the majority of journalism on the rivalry of the two has been around their time in England, it was formed originally in Germany. With Guardiola managing Bayern Munich and Klopp leading Borussia Dortmund - collectively the two most successful German clubs, contesting a rivalry known as Der Klassiker - the two faced off eight times in under two years, including three cup finals. They each won four of those eight matches, with Klopp taking two of the three trophies they contested. Both men would move directly from Germany to England at the end of their contracts; Klopp joined Liverpool on 8 October 2015, while on 1 February 2016 it was announced that Guardiola would join City for the 2016–17 season.
At the end of the 2018–19 season, Guardiola described his relationship with Klopp as a "beautiful rivalry" and called Klopp's Liverpool team "the strongest opponents I have faced in my career as a manager". In September 2019, Klopp hailed Guardiola for being his 'greatest rival ever', after both the two were nominated for the FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award in 2019, which Klopp won.
Journalists and pundits have praised the quality of Liverpool and Manchester City's rivalry. Pundit and former Liverpool and England player Jamie Carragher describing it in 2022 as "the best we’ve ever had in English football... We've never had the two best teams and managers in the world together fighting it out." Pundit and former England player Gary Neville described it as "an exceptional rivalry in the terms of excellence and consistency". In the same year, the BBC noted that the two clubs "have produced a rivalry in recent years that has taken the standard of English football to another level." In 2023, the Manchester Evening News noted the particularly "heated" and "hostile" nature of the rivalry, and that "the clashes between the two clubs were now becoming season defining".
Current players for the two clubs have also commented on the rivalry with each other. In 2023, Manchester City player Rodri said that "The rivalry is always there, no matter what the situation is of each team. It has always been a big rivalry in the last few years".
A survey conducted in 2019 found that a large number of City fans consider Liverpool, not Manchester United, to be their club's biggest rivals. However, a survey conducted in 2023 found that Liverpool fans consider Manchester City to be their third biggest rivals, behind Manchester United and Chelsea, but ahead of Everton.
A 19-year-old man, Kian Holt, was charged with tragedy chanting following a Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on 1 December 2024. Eight other men were also arrested on similar charges but released on bail. The chants referenced the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which claimed 97 Liverpool fans' lives.
The below table demonstrates the competitive results, excluding extra time/penalties, between the two sides (not indicative of titles won). League includes the Premier League, League Division One and League Division Two. The Lancashire Section and the War Leagues are not included.
The table below shows the matches played between Manchester City and Liverpool, separated by home, as in matches played at Manchester City's home stadium (following a nomadic embryonic existence, City resided at Hyde Road from 1887 to 1923, then Maine Road until 2003, and finally the City of Manchester Stadium from the 2003–04 season onwards) are shown in the left hand table and matches played in Liverpool's home stadium (Anfield) are shown on the right. Cup finals are typically played at a neutral location such as the England national football team home stadium (Wembley).