After a flare-up that saw Liverpool urge referee Simon Hooper to send Rodri off, the Etihad echoed to Man City fans’ “always the victims” chant.
Rodri had only just received a yellow card for hauling down Diogo Jota when he committed a similar challenge on Cody Gakpo.
The score was 1-1 at the Etihad and Liverpool players, led by Jordan Henderson, confronted the referee in a bid to get the Man City midfielder sent off.
Whether it would have changed the complexion of the game is unclear, but the scenes afterwards soured the afternoon entirely.
“Always the victims, it’s never your fault,” is sadly heard at many Liverpool games, but this time around it was shocking to hear the scale of its chorus around the stadium.
I’ve heard ‘Always the victim’ being sung to us more times than I can count but I’ve never heard it absolutely ringing around a stadium like I did earlier on. It wasn’t just a group of idiots who don’t ‘represent the club or fan base,’ it was near the entire stadium. Utterly vile
— Chloe bloxam (@ChloeBloxam) April 1, 2023
It comes amid an increasingly toxic rivalry between the two clubs – particularly from Man City‘s side – and following “murderers” chants in the reverse fixture at Anfield in October.
On that occasion, the Manchester outfit dug in and instead blamed Jurgen Klopp for “borderline xenophobic” comments on their spending pre-match.
They claimed the Liverpool manager had “whipped up tensions ahead of a game that has a history of trouble.”
Klopp rightly took legal action against Man City for the claims of an unnamed source in the Times, while four days later the club issued an apology – though only via a private email.
Man City: “Manchester City are disappointed to have heard inappropriate chants from home fans during today’s game. We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporters groups & officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting.”
— Paul Gorst (@ptgorst) April 1, 2023
Man City have already produced a statement on Saturday’s incident, though, describing themselves as “disappointed” at the “inappropriate chants.”
“Manchester City are disappointed to have heard inappropriate chants from home fans during today’s game,” their statement reads.
“We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporters groups and officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting.”