Liverpool fans prepare hostile Anfield welcome for Manchester City after financial ruling

Manchester City return to one of the most uncomfortable venues on their calendar this Sunday. Pep Guardiola's side visit Anfield at 17.30 local time to face Liverpool in the Premier League, in the first match since an independent commission found the Sky Blues guilty of 114 financial irregularities. The home crowd has already organized a heated reception around the stadium, with a call to turn the pre-match build-up into a full-scale red tide.

• This Sunday at 17.30 local time, City play their first match at Anfield since being found guilty of 114 financial irregularities.
• Liverpool fan groups have called for a red tide in a street next to the stadium used by the team buses.
• Supporters have been asked to bring flags, banners and flares to create a hostile atmosphere from the moment the visitors arrive.
• Liverpool consider themselves one of the main victims of City's financial scheme, even though they won no league title against them between 2009 and 2018.
• City have appealed the ruling and a decision is expected in the coming weeks, with potential sanctions possible before the end of the season.

A corridor of flags, flares and noise to greet the Manchester City team bus

Liverpool supporters have been coordinating for days to make sure City's arrival at Anfield is anything but routine. The mobilization is focused on one of the streets adjacent to the stadium normally used by team coaches, both for home and away sides. The plan is to pack it with thousands of fans dressed in red, waving Liverpool flags, homemade banners and lit flares to create an image as noisy as it is intimidating.

This is not a spontaneous gesture. It is the result of an organized call from Merseyside fan groups who see this fixture as a chance to express their anger over a case that casts doubt on a decade of financial and competitive dominance by City in English football. Anfield is already a special place for big nights, but this time the emotional weight comes with an extra edge.

Why Liverpool feel like one of the biggest victims of Manchester City's financial breaches

The frustration in Liverpool does not stem from a title lost directly to City during the period under investigation. Between 2009 and 2018, the Reds did not win a Premier League crown, so the Manchester club did not snatch any championship from them at the end of those seasons. However, at Anfield there is a strong feeling that the financial figures manipulated during that stretch, estimated at around one billion euros, had a direct impact in the years that followed.

It is in that second phase where Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool kept running into Guardiola's City. The runner-up finishes in 2019 and 2022, with 97 and 92 points respectively, remain the most visible wound of a rivalry defined by the excellence of both projects. Liverpool supporters argue that without the financial muscle built on irregularities, City's dominant cycle would have taken a very different path.

Guardiola's City head to Anfield at the toughest possible moment

The fixture arrives with Manchester City in a difficult moment on the pitch. The season under Guardiola has fallen well short of the standards set in recent years, and Anfield has never been an easy ground for the Sky Blues. The sporting challenge now comes wrapped in a tense social climate, with the home crowd ready to turn every contested ball into a battleground.

Guardiola faces the game as an opportunity to restore some competitive normality to his team and, in the process, try to reduce the tension in an environment that promises to be among the most hostile of the season. The Catalan coach knows exactly what it means to play in Liverpool, but this time the home crowd's motivation is also driven by the connection between sporting justice and elite football.

What the independent commission ruling says and what could happen to Manchester City

The independent commission tasked with investigating Manchester City concluded that the club was guilty of 114 financial irregularities during the 2009-2018 period. The exact nature of each charge has not been made public in detail, but the overall number points to a prolonged scheme of breaches that the Premier League considered serious enough to declare the club's guilt.

City have appealed the decision. The outcome of that appeal is expected in the coming weeks, and if the ruling is upheld, sanctions could land before the end of the current season. Scenarios involving points deductions, heavy fines or even administrative relegations have been floated in English football's public conversation, although no measure will be confirmed until the relevant body makes its decision.

Frequently asked questions about the Manchester City case and the Liverpool match