Following Manchester City's emphatic victory over Liverpool, Oliver Brown, a journalist at The Daily Telegraph, published a scathing article highlighting Manchester City's current situation. He argued that Manchester City appears to have no sense of shame, with players and fans celebrating as though glory obtained through illicit spending were legitimate, and they accept with ease their status as pariahs of the football world.

It is often said that cheaters never prosper. Yet after Manchester City's almost contemptuously easy triumph over Liverpool, which announced their strong return to form, this old adage may need reassessing. Naturally, players and fans revelled in the moment, as though glory obtained through illicit spending were legitimate. Inflatable bananas, an exultant Noel Gallagher, and unspeakable taunts from the stands when Gary Neville appeared pitchside to comment for Sky Sports—this celebration overflowed with unparalleled arrogance.

Shame? Manchester City, from top to bottom, appears utterly oblivious to the word.

They accept with ease their status as pariahs of the football world, with some fans even holding banners designed to echo the Oasis logo that read "CHEATERS". Superficially, this was one of the most dazzling results in Manchester City's history: propelled by a controversial red card for Gravenberch, an energised Manchester City inflicted one of Liverpool's worst home defeats in the Premier League era. Yet ultimately, this victory may prove meaningless—a thought that offered some solace to the Kop during this agonising afternoon.

"Relegation for you," Liverpool fans sang, while Manchester City's faithful, dressed in sky blue, continued celebrating as though they were wronged angels.

It is all a sham.

This absurd situation will not disappear—not next week, not next month, not even next year. Every resounding Manchester City victory, every spectacular goal, is cast under a shadow: these achievements could be completely expunged from the record books. The team clearly aims to win the league title again, but ultimately, this trophy may be recorded as void or even reallocated.

Thus, even as opponents are crushed, they can still mock the victors freely. Liverpool's reaction is the best example. In any other circumstance, a scoreline like this would have shamed the Reds, and fans would have directed their anger at manager Maresca. But this time, they were almost indifferent.

The stadium announcer played Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" as the match ended.

It was clear that Manchester City was determined to retaliate against their rivals forcefully. After City scored their third goal in 13 minutes, chants of "keep attacking" echoed around the stadium, and Maresca, visibly moved, waved vigorously, signalling the team's unstoppable form. Yet Manchester City Football Club itself is engulfed in another raging fire, one that even Haaland's brilliance cannot extinguish. Indeed, Manchester City are currently in excellent form, on course to replicate the 100-point mark achieved nine years ago. But it is precisely those 100 points that the club may lose due to years of vastly inflated revenues.

This acute contradiction creates one of the most bizarre atmospheres in English football history: Manchester City's dominant victory at Anfield was competitively impressive, yet spiritually hollow and meaningless.

Intense tribalism makes people unwilling to admit it, but in the current situation, two facts can coexist. On one hand, you can marvel at Haaland: scoring quickly after squandering a golden opportunity, applauded by his father Alf-Inge in the stands; you can also appreciate the exquisite skill of Doku, his curled shot momentarily silencing a raucous Anfield.

But on the other hand, you are also disappointed by the apathy of Manchester City's fans, holding banners proclaiming "We believe in Khaldoon", completely ignoring the true source of the club's current immense competitive advantage.

The football world awaited Manchester City's appeal verdict with bated breath. It was widely believed that the guilty verdict, reached by an independent panel after reviewing hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence, would instil some humility in Manchester City. Yet the scenes at this match presented the exact opposite. Manchester City, of course, denies all charges, and the team's ostentatious celebration of victory is truly hard to stomach. Take those inflatable bananas, for instance, seen as a nostalgic tribute to the 1980s—when Manchester City was relegated to the second division, waving bananas became popular among fans. The underlying message is: even if the team falls several divisions, fans will support them as always?

Such actions are incredibly bizarre, bordering on wilful delusion.

This Manchester City, under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is light years away from the era of manager Jimmy Frizzell, with infinite wealth allowing the club to engage in unprecedented rule violations. £900 million—that is the total amount by which Manchester City artificially inflated their commercial revenue through fictitious contracts. Yet the arrogant expressions on the faces of players and fans at Anfield made it seem they took pride in it. Late in the match, the visiting fans repeatedly sang: "You're being done by a leopard."

This mentality is often called a siege mentality.

The entire squad under Maresca is deeply rooted in it: Haaland blew kisses to the travelling fans after scoring, and Elliott Anderson praised his teammates for their fearless courage. But such declarations of loyalty and acts of self-preservation are essentially superficial. It is certain that players now proclaiming eternal loyalty to the club will not hesitate to leave once any penalties are officially imposed.

Currently, Manchester City boasts a perfect record, albeit a tainted one. Relying on a luxurious squad assembled with vast sums of money and unwavering resilience, they appear capable of crushing any opponent. Even for them, achieving 38 consecutive victories would be challenging, but if they did, they would reach an highly ironic total of 114 points.

Liverpool fans displayed this number with gold balloons, celebrating the number of charges their rivals were found guilty of; the stands also featured songs adapted from Oasis, with a banner in the front row of the Kop reading: "And after all, you really did rob us all."

Over the top? Not at all.

This scandal is robbing football of many precious things, first and foremost the credibility of the Premier League itself.

Traduzido por IA.

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