It's two years to the day since Liverpool demolished Manchester City at Anfield in one of their most remarkable victories in recent years.
Both sides were drawn together in the Champions League quarter-final to set up a mouthwatering all English clash. Whilst both teams have become fierce Premier League rivals over the course of the previous two campaigns, it's worth remembering that at the time of the draw, Manchester City were touted as heavy favourites.
Going into the match, Pep Guardiola's side were 20-points clear of the Reds at the top of the Premier League table whilst Jurgen Klopp's side sat in third and was focused predominantly on just trying to solidify a position inside the top-four to ensure qualification for the following season's competition. Yet, Liverpool turned those pre-match expectations on their head.
Klopp lined his Liverpool side up in their now familiar 4-3-3 formation whilst Guardiola adjusted his line up, setting up in a 4-2-3-1 with a more defensive-oriented Ilkay Gundogan selected in place of Raheem Sterling on the right of midfield. This immediately created a sense that perhaps the City manager was concerned with the threat Liverpool posed.
From the outset, City couldn't cope with Liverpool's intensity and struggled to get their attacking players on the ball. Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren smothered lone striker Gabriel Jesus, whilst attack minded full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson remained much deeper than usual, guarding against any runs in behind. The midfield three pressed tirelessly in the middle, protecting the back four and stunting City's best ball players in the middle.
Unlike the modern side who play high up the pitch, Liverpool tended to drop deep into their own half without the ball, often resembling a 4-5-1 type formation with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane dropping in for support. This compact shape meant City struggled to carve open any opportunities inside the Reds defensive third, therefore they pushed more players into more advanced areas to try and create overloads, however, this set them up to be exploited on the counter.
Liverpool were so quick in the transitions that City rarely had time to adjust when possession was lost. This proved crucial in the game's opening goal. When the ball is regained, Robertson is uninterested in maintaining possession and instead looks to fire a quick direct vertical pass forward.
The quick pass bypasses nine of City's ten outfield players who are caught out of possession. Salah drives to the box and eventually is on hand to fire the ball past Ederson to give the Reds the lead.
The succeeding minutes played out in the same vein with Liverpool happy to forgo possession, press City on the ball and force turnovers before exploding into counter-attacks. Whilst the midfield on the day was largely deployed to press and nullify the threat of City's key players, the role of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved decisive.
Of the three in the middle, he acted as the connecting link between the midfield and the attack, regularly dropping in between the lines of City's set up and driving with the ball at his feet.
As demonstrated by the below average position map from the match, Oxlade-Chamberlain was often the most advanced, regularly joining the front three in attacking sequences. The England international of course doubled Liverpool's lead in the 20th minute with a stunning goal that proved worthy of his performance on the day.
The game, and effectively the tie, was wrapped up on the half hour mark as Liverpool again broke quickly and exposed City's disorganised defence as Salah hit a deftly chipped cross towards Mane on the edge of the six-yard box to head past Ederson.
Although Klopp's gameplan on the night centred around deploying a sit and counter-attack approach, it's interesting to note that at half-time, the possession share was split at just 52% - 48% to the visitors.
This illustrates that despite being granted greater territorial dominance, City struggled to maintain possession for prolonged periods when faced with Liverpool's pressure and work rate.
Whilst City improved after the break, bringing on Sterling and switching to their more familiar 4-3-3, the damage was already done and Liverpool remained on the whole rather untroubled.
The Reds passage into the last four was secured six days later when they travelled to the Etihad and ran out 2-1 winners on the night thanks to goals from Salah and Firmino, yet, it was the scintillating 3-0 win at Anfield that provided one of the most thrilling matches of that seasons and gave Guardiola a glimpse of things to come.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com