Paul Gorst assesses the potential impact of a full Anfield when Liverpool meet Man City in this week’s Blood Red
Jurgen Klopp knows it and, by his own admission, Pep Guardiola does too.
The Manchester City boss was basking in the glow of his club’s first win at Anfield for 18 years back in February when he was moved to make one pertinent observation about the 4-1 triumph.
“Hopefully, next time we can do it with a similar performance with spectators as Anfield with and without fans is completely different,” said the City boss.
He was right, of course.
As costly errors from Alisson Becker helped condemn Klopp’s side to a third straight home reverse at the time, Anfield – one of the most famous cauldrons in world football – was Anfield in name only.
With no fans to inspire an injury-hit and confidence-sapped squad, Liverpool would labour to a further three straight losses at home to bring up the most unwanted of club records. Having gone almost four years with a home defeat in the Premier League, they lost a half dozen between late January and early March for the first time in 129 years of history.
It’s unthinkable to believe that Mohamed Salah’s 63rd-minute equaliser from the penalty spot would not have been the spark the Kop needed to rouse the troops on that cold February afternoon, had 54,000 been inside.
Instead, the leveller was greeted with quiet celebration of the home dugout before City ran riot in the final third of the game.
Sunday sees the return of Guardiola’s men to Merseyside as once more, the two most recent Premier League champions go head-to-head inside a packed out football stadium.
“I am pleased Anfield is full again, it’s nice they come back and we can enjoy a fantastic atmosphere and hopefully we can handle it in a good way,” said Guardiola when quizzed on Friday.
The City boss, though, is acutely aware of the impact those on the terraces can have on his side, particularly when their team bus rolls into the red half of L4.
He added: “I am sure the players enjoy playing with fans in Anfield more than without.
“We didn’t win at Anfield – and I don’t know the reasons – for like the last four or five years because it’s an exceptional team.
“The crowd helps, like in Paris [on Tuesday] , but it happens in big stadiums.
“In Germany at Dortmund or Atletico Madrid. It happens, it is not a lot for intimidation, but the quality of the opponent. We do our game with or without spectators.”
Guardiola may insist the City gameplan remains unchanged regardless, but there is little evidence to the contrary that Anfield, in full bloom, intimidates his expensively assembled squad.
In Klopp’s seven games against Guardiola in all competitions at home, his side have won five of them, with their only loss coming in that 4-1 game earlier this year.
Rarely have City been able to resist when the tempo and volume are turned up to 11.
It is what hands Klopp additional ammo for Sunday’s blockbuster event as he welcomes the champions back at a time when his free-scoring attackers are underpinned, Brentford aside, by a miserly defence.
“Two years ago, I said we needed that atmosphere that even the guys who sell hotdogs need to be on their toes!” Klopp said on Friday.
“We need that again. I know we had a long time without each other and I don’t have to ask for that again. The people have been exceptional since they have been back.
“I have loved each second, but everyone in the stadium on Sunday knows it only makes sense when we do it all together.
“And I would really like to say that we should all give it a proper try together and let’s be as powerful as we can be.
“I know, everyone knows, we need it. We have a better chance with it, so let’s make it a really special game and yes, it is obvious that there is a massive difference with and without, so let’s set a new level for it.”
City were far and away the best team in the country last time out as they romped to the Premier League title by 12 points.
But that soulless, empty husk of a campaign has been consigned to the deepest recesses of the mind as far as Klopp and company as concerned now.
As Guardiola’s City ride in on Sunday afternoon, their task is to prove that they can in fact stand the heat in the kitchen when the white-hot atmosphere inevitably builds.
For Liverpool, their own challenge is to once more rise to the level of excellence required to beat the champions.
It may not quite be the two-horse race of previous years, but Sunday could yet have a massive say on just where the title is destined for in May.
And both managers know it.
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