LIVERPOOL -- Manchester City skulked into Anfield on Sunday through the back door, but strutted out the front at the end of a day when their defiance silenced Liverpool's indignation. They have become the most unpopular team in Premier League history, but for now, they are riding the storm.
Yet as they celebrated a 3-0 victory on the pitch at the end of the game, the City players did so to the tune of "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac -- a song played without subtlety by the Anfield DJ.
Enzo Maresca's team may have won the points, but hearts and minds? Forget it.
Having been found guilty by an independent commission during the international break of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules -- City were issued with 115 charges in total -- their trip to Anfield on Sunday was the club's first outing since they were condemned as cheats and accused by Premier League CEO Richard Masters of "systemically breaking rules for almost a decade."
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What a place to show their face again after two weeks of claim and counter-claim since the verdict was announced.
Plenty of teams have reason to feel a sense of injustice because of City's rule-breaking -- the club has appealed the verdict -- but Liverpool arguably suffered more than any other because of the prolonged and industrial scale financial chicanery for which City have been found guilty.
Yes, the period covered by the Premier League investigation was the seasons from 2009-2018, which only saw Liverpool challenge for the title once, when they finished runners-up to City in 2013-14, but the strength and wealth that City accumulated during that time was what made them such a formidable opponent for Jurgen Klopp's great Liverpool team from 2018 onward.
Had City not inflated their commercial income by over £900 million, as found to be so by the independent commission, Klopp's Liverpool teams might have at least two more Premier League titles on their roll of honor. In 2018-19, Liverpool amassed 97 points. In 2021-22, they finished the season with 92. On both occasions, City edged them out by a point. Only a team of incredible talent and depth could do that, and City, thanks to their ability to outspend their rivals year after year, proved too strong for arguably some of Liverpool's greatest sides.
That's why Anfield was such an unwelcoming venue for City's post-verdict walk of shame. It won't be the only one, though -- Arsenal and Manchester United also have their issues to address with the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan's team.
City knew what was waiting for them, which is why their team bus took an alternative route to Anfield, navigating back streets with a police escort, before entering the stadium through the back door.
In 2018, the City bus was attacked en route to a game at Anfield and players were forced to dive for cover on the floor to avoid broken glass, so there were valid reasons for Sunday's circuitous route, but their arrival only added to the sense of a team trying to sneak in to avoid the hostility that awaited them.
And so it proved. When the City goalkeepers emerged for their prematch warmup in front of a virtually empty stadium, they were mercilessly booed and the volume went up when the rest of players ran out. The Anfield stadium announcer then told the crowd, "Today's playlist has been put together by the dressing room," so every track was listened to intently for hidden -- or not so hidden -- messages.
"It's Not Right," by Whitney Houston and "Blame," by Calvin Harris were both pumped out of the speakers, with a Dire Straits track -- sadly not "Money for Nothing" -- also played.
It was the songs from the supporters that really cut through, though.
"Cheats," "You cheating b-------, you know what you are," and "You haven't won a trophy since 1976" -- instantly voiding the 21 major honors won by City since 2009 -- all rained down at full volume from The Kop, and there were some brutal banners too.
"CH££££££££££££££TS," "A Generation of Supporters - Cheated," "No Legacy is So Important as Honesty" and an image of Sheikh Mansour underneath "The Confather" were some of the printable ones.
Ferran Soriano, the Man City CEO, witnessed and heard it all from the directors' box, although chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak was not present. Both men face being kicked out of the game by the authorities if the charges of financial mismanagement and false accounting are upheld.
But despite the vitriol, Maresca and his players blanked it out. It will take a stern test of the mental strength to do so for the rest of the season because they will get this kind of treatment wherever they go, and some players may question whether it is worth tarnishing their reputation by being associated with the club.
Yet right now, Manchester City are top of the league and favorites to win another title, and what a nightmare that would be for the Premier League.
But the manner of their win at Anfield ultimately exposed just why there is so much anger being directed towards City by opposing supporters. They beat Liverpool with a bench of peerless quality -- Jérémy Doku replaced Iliman Ndiaye and scored City's second goal -- and it all started with Erling Haaland's opener, three minutes after Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second yellow card.
It was Haaland's sixth league goal of the season and his 118th in 138 Premier League appearances for Man City since signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. Haaland is the world's best goalscorer, a player who would ordinarily be snapped up by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool or, in times before City's dominance, Manchester United.
Yet the 26-year-old is the face of today's City, the personification of the false edifice built by their artificially inflated commercial income. Without that financial power, City wouldn't be the winning machine they have become, and they certainly wouldn't be a destination for a player like Haaland.
But as the City fans unfurled a banner which said "BU115HIT" towards the end of the game, they were celebrating a win orchestrated by Haaland.
And that's why City bounced out of the front door, back on the bus to their trophy-winning empire in Manchester, with the boos of their detractors ringing in their ears.