Man City face hostile Liverpool crowd in first match after guilty verdict

Manchester City played Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in their first Premier League match since an independent commission found the club guilty of serious financial breaches. The commission ruled in late September that City had artificially inflated revenues by more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018 through disguised funding schemes and sham sponsorship agreements. City has launched an appeal against the verdict.

The atmosphere at Anfield was charged with hostility. Liverpool supporters lined the streets around the stadium for over an hour before kick-off, holding banners and merchandise depicting City players as "cheats" and "guilty." Chants of "going down, going down, going down" and "cheating b*stards" echoed around the ground. City's team bus took an alternative route to avoid the crowds, while Liverpool's bus received a celebratory welcome. Inside the stadium, City players were heavily booed whenever they touched the ball in the opening minutes.

Manchester City fans responded to the charged environment by waving hundreds of inflatable bananas, reviving a tradition dating to the 1987/88 season when the club was relegated to Division Two. The banana craze originated as wordplay on former City forward Imre Varadi's name and gained popularity during the Madchester era of the late 1980s. The fan group 1894 distributed over 1,000 inflatable bananas to travelling supporters, framing the gesture as bringing levity to conflict with football authorities, echoing a message that "this fan base has always been on a rollercoaster."

Liverpool's hostile reception reflected two factors: the sporting rivalry between the clubs, which intensified during the 2013/14 season when City beat Liverpool to the title by one point, and again in 2018/19 and 2021/22 when Liverpool accumulated over 90 points in both seasons but finished second each time. The financial breaches verdict raised the possibility that City could face significant punishment—including fines, points deductions, or expulsion—which could trigger a reallocation of historical titles. Some Liverpool supporters voiced hopes that City would be stripped of titles won during the period under investigation. Merseyside Police increased their presence around the stadium and deployed drones to maintain order, though no major incidents were reported.