A look at how the national media reacted to Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield
Andoni Iraola was handed his first defeat as Liverpool boss in brutal fashion as his 10 men collapsed and were beaten 3-0 by Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
The ECHO was at Anfield on a day that will be indelibly linked to City's guilty verdict for 114 charges of breaking the Premier League's financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
You can read our match verdict, player ratings, post-game analysis and on-the-whistle reaction here. You can also catch what Iraola and his City counterpart Enzo Maresca had to say after the game. We left no stone unturned in our match-day coverage.
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Anfield chants as Man City strolled to Liverpool victory show only one conclusion matters
Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their considered takes. Here's how they viewed proceedings at Anfield.
Writing in the Daily Mirror, chief football correspondent John Cross remarked: "At the final whistle, even the Liverpool fans struggled to muster another chant. Eventually, the Kop began to sing: 'Going down, going down' as the Manchester City fans celebrated up the other end with their giant inflatable bananas.
"City just refused to follow the script. The anger was there. The atmosphere was furious, loud and red-hot. For so much of the day, the game was completely secondary.
"Millions tuned in on Sky to see how City would react. The fans inside Anfield tried to intimidate City as they chanted 'sham' and 'cheats'. They booed with every breath. It was exactly what we expected.
"But City rose above it all and produced a brilliant, defiant performance as they ultimately outclassed a ragged, injury-hit Liverpool who finished the game with ten men after Ryan Gravenberch’s dismissal."
The Independent's Miguel Delaney writes: "Three brilliant finishes, and possibly the only ending this freak match was ever going to have. Manchester City again abrasively drive on amidst it all, absolutely revelling in a 3-0 win at Liverpool, but nobody knows what it will actually mean. Few, outside the City fans in the relished moments of celebration, even know what to feel.
"It does highlight the very absurdity of the situation, as the Abu Dhabi-owned club get to have this act of defiance, and the rest of the league gets even more furious about it all.
"City fans, for their part, also got to feel something 'real' after the uncertainty over the past two weeks. Liverpool, like everyone else, are waiting for a clarity that now seems essential for this very season.
"It was why the main impression from this game should not be regarding City’s 'brilliance'. Really, after two weeks of build-up and debate about the Premier League 'brand', we saw the real damage. This immediately felt untenable.
"It only emphasises the need for this process to be concluded and - above all - why the sanctions should have been announced with the decision. That would also add more of an incentive for both sides on the appeals process. This is otherwise a farce for the Premier League, a bizarre unreality."
Martin Samuel, of The Times, reflects: "And some will say this was a meaningless match, because of the sword of Damocles that hangs over one club. Nonsense. A trophy will be won at the end of this season. Maybe not by City — we shall see — but by somebody.
"So results still matter, points still matter, and Liverpool now trail Arsenal by six of them. This was supposed to be the fixture that would put City in their place yet, if anything, they left Merseyside with renewed vigour. They fought the law and the law may win; but others may not be so lucky.
"Gravenberch’s dismissal made a difference, of course it did — it was goalless when he was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jeremy Doku — but that is also not the only explanation for what followed. City’s finishing was exceptional, their control total, their passing exquisite, once given the opportunity.
"They have bought well, too. It could be argued there were 114 reasons for that, but Florian Wirtz was three times the price of Rayan Cherki. Liverpool rejected Cherki and bought Wirtz, but who looks to have secured the better deal now? It’s not always about money.
"Yet, if anything, they were almost too good on Sunday, reminding everyone where those 'sham' deals may have got them. Perched uncomfortably in the directors’ box, City’s executives may have secretly hoped their players reined it in a little."
Writing in the Daily Mail, Ian Herbert scribes: "Even on this day, Liverpool were exposed for the squad limitations which come of not having ‘fantasy football’ money, as Jurgen Klopp once described City’s outlay.
"Briefly, Lewis Koumas almost conspired to script something excellent from the meaninglessness. The 21-year-old, socks around his ankles, was standing pretty much on the spot where Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea handed City the title, 12 years ago, when he raced to receive Bradley Barcola’s pass and hit a fine rising drive. Some story it would have been, for a young Liverpudlian, as Gerrard looked on.
"But it was Erling Haaland, a player handed a £525,000-a-week, nine-year contract, 21 months ago, who scored instead. Jeremy Doku, a City substitute earning £180,000-a-week under the terms of his new deal, turned the screw.
"In those days of fair and honest combat, the scoreline would have sent the Anfield crowd away nursing anger and loathing. But those who drifted out on Sunday night seemed at a loss about an irrelevant footnote to a phantom rivalry and a City side who will probably not be here again for some time. There were no winners on this day."
And the ECHO's own verdict reads: "By the end, the famous Liverpudlian wit had been removed from the Kop's barbs, replaced by chants with far more rudimentary messages for Manchester City.
"With City in possession of a 3-0 lead and their fans attempting to deride the Anfield experience, Liverpool's match-goers responded with a simple chorus of their own.
"'You're f****** cheats! You're f****** cheats! You're f****** cheats!'
"And then, as City knocked the ball around in stoppage time, each pass was greeted with a booming "cheats".
"Pending appeal, of course, it was an entirely fair riposte from the Reds' fans. And while City certainly enjoyed their time in this part of Merseyside after what has no doubt been a tortuous fortnight or so, this day will have to be savoured for some time given the potential punishment careering towards them.
"It might be a while before they are back here. And if the guilty verdict is upheld over their "sham" contracts and the artificial inflation of nearly £900m in commercial revenue, then you have to say good riddance.
"The idea that some Premier League clubs' executives reportedly feel uneasy about losing City, one of the league's apparent star draws, simply cannot come into the equation. Weapons-grade cheating for nearly a decade cannot be 'punished' by a slap on the wrist or a fine for a club who have been bankrolled by the impossible wealth of Abu Dhabi for nearly 20 years.
"If the Premier League's redacted, 40-page core decision, published late last month, holds firm after City's appeal is heard, an enormous, unprecedented punishment must follow. If not, then what is it exactly we are all doing here?"
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