Manchester City Retain Premier League
It was one of the most exciting Premier League races in history. Liverpool and Manchester City back and forth leapfrogging one another all season long for Premier League glory. On championship Sunday all Manchester City had to do was defeat Brighton to retain the league and Liverpool needed a win over Wolves and a Man City loss or draw. Since it’s inception in 1992, Liverpool had never won the Premier League and no one had ever retained it. So on championship Sunday this year, history was going to be made for English soccer (football).
How Manchester City Won
Taking on a tough Wolves squad at Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool needed to play their A game. After winning an emotional 4-0 match against Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal 2nd leg, they needed to turn around quickly and play another high stakes game.
Liverpool got off to a quick 1-0 lead with a Sadio Mane goal in the 17′
At this very moment, the Man City/Brighton game was still 0-0 so if the results were to hold, Liverpool would win its first Premier League title. What happened next temporarily shocked the soccer world.
Glenn Murray with the header to give Brighton the 1-0 lead which sent Anfield into chaos. Was Pep Guardiola’s lineup changes going to cost him the Premier League? Was City about to blow this? It was time for Manchester City to respond, and respond they did not even four minutes later.
Sergio Aguero off a nice redirection from Bernardo Silva tied the match at one. Though it was tied, Liverpool still held the advantage if the results were to hold. But the football gods were looking down on Manchester City as the rest of the afternoon went City’s way. The opportunities started to pile up for Wolves and the goals started to come for City. 10 minutes later, off of a coner, Ayemeric LaPorte headed one home for City to give them the 2-1 lead.
At this point this was all City would need to win the Premier League. However, Wolves did want make things a little interesting with a shot off the post.
Had that gone in, there is no telling what the feeling in Anfield would’ve been. Though, Brighton also tried to make things quite interesting right before halftime. With a free kick just outside the 18, Brighton looked to hopefully dash the City dreams yet again by nearly tying the match up, however a nice save from Ederson preserved the 2-1 City lead.
The second half of this match was all City as they outscored Brighton 2-0 with goals from Mahrez and Gundogan. The decision to put Mahrez in the lineup was kind of a head scratcher for some fans as he has struggled a bit. But that decision paid off when put in the third City goal in the 63′.
With a 3-1 lead, Man City would not look back and Liverpool had no option but to accept the fact that they would finish in 2nd yet again. Liverpool did add another goal from Mane to give them a 2-0 victory but with Man City up by two, it just wasn’t going to happen for them. City would end up adding a fourth goal to solidify the 4-1 win and their fourth Premier League title in the last eight years.
The Last Laugh?
Even though Manchester City have won consecutive Premier League titles, Liverpool may end up having the last laugh. While Manchester City have never won a UEFA Champions League title, Liverpool will be going for their sixth title and first since 2005. After trailing 3-0 to Barca, no one thought that Liverpool had a shot. Until they came back to Anfield and pulled off the improbable 4-0 victory. Liverpool will take on fellow Premier League foe Tottenham in Madrid on June 1st for European glory.