Five years ago today | City 2 Liverpool 1

[Eric Hitchmough]

Bernardo ran about 450 miles that night.

 

[TinFoilHat]

 

[John Wayne]

Without a doubt. It was a truly incredible thing to experience.

Bloody stressful, I know that! :)

 

[youngbob]

Was discussing this with my Dad. I think this team was our greatest ever. We should have won the quad that year.

Agreed. Was saying this over the summer that, as much as it's expected (and fair enough) for our treble-winning side to be considered the best ever, the 18/19 side is joint if not better. We absolutely would have done all four as well were VAR not a factor. At the time, I was a bit concerned that a joint run at the Premier League and Champions League might have been too much, especially against that Liverpool side, but we were in such a good flow that, barring that chaotic game against Spurs, it was absolutely on. Funny how if it'd literally come one season earlier Raheem would have been "just about level" and we'd have gone through.

I think our side in 22/23 from March to June is the greatest City side of all time but over the course of a whole season it's the 18/19 team. We were literally a couple of wins away from completing the set. We had the expansive and technical forward play from the Centurions season, and Sergio was as devastating as ever, but we were much tougher and grittier at the back, which meant that we were never likely to get hammered like 5-1 on aggregate like we had done against Liverpool that previous year. We were just that bit more solid and apart from a crazy period where we played Spurs three times in 10 days, definitely would have bypassed Ajax and done the lot.

One mark against a quadruple in that season, though, is that Pep absolutely would have left. I remember him saying at the time that he'd have gone in the summer if we'd won the Champions League in 2019. In a way, maybe that Raheem disallowed goal ended up being a blessing in disguise.

 

[Nevizade]

Was discussing this with my Dad. I think this team was our greatest ever. We should have won the quad that year.

You're probably right. My abiding memory of that season is the sheer stress before every match knowing we simply had to win (I'm sure I'm not the only one) so I probably don't appreciate that team as much as I should. I particularly remember scraping past West Ham one midweek where Mahrez had an absolute shocker, took about five years off my life.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

The word epic is overused.
So I'll just say that this match was Homeric — Achilles against Hector.
Red Rum against Desert Orchid, if it had been possible.
Muhammad Ali in the two against Smokin Joe Frazier.

Shame we weren’t permitted to drag Salah round Merseyside tied to the back of a chariot after the game.

 

[horlock_was_super]

I remember Vinnie's challenge and feeling physically sick. I was convinced he was going off.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

You're probably right. My abiding memory of that season is the sheer stress before every match knowing we simply had to win (I'm sure I'm not the only one) so I probably don't appreciate that team as much as I should. I particularly remember scraping past West Ham one midweek where Mahrez had an absolute shocker, took about five years off my life.

Yes, you’re right. The tension and pressure going into every banana skin knowing we could not afford a slip up. And unlike a certain scouser, we didn’t. I remember a narrow win at Burnley and one at old Trafford that took a long time to come.

 

[rickmcfc]

I remember Vinnie's challenge and feeling physically sick. I was convinced he was going off.

Let’s be honest could and should have been a red.

 

[skillman]

Some game, that. Some atmosphere too.