Liverpool has vowed to ban anyone who throws coins or other objects at Manchester City boss Pep guardiola for life.
Guardiola clashed with Liverpool fans after Phil Foden’s 53rd-minute goal was disallowed due to an earlier foul from Erling Haaland.
It was later discovered that the Reds fans were behind the attack on City bossHowever, he was not struck by any of the objects while he was on the Main Stand.
Liverpool have condemned the ‘totally unacceptable behaviour’ and have opened an investigation into the matter.
A club spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident involving objects being thrown into the technical area at today’s game.
“This is totally unacceptable behaviour and not the standards of behaviour we expect at Anfield.
“This incident will be fully investigated using CCTV and those found guilty will be punished, including a lifetime ban from Anfield Stadium and a possible football banning order.”
This isn’t the first time that there have been crowd troubles at Liverpool or City games at Anfield. In fact, the rivalry between these two clubs has grown significantly in recent years.
Most notoriously, in 2018, City’s team bus was pelted with bottles and other objects as it arrived at the Merseyside ground for a Champions League encounter.
Asked about the latest incident, Guardiola said sarcastically: “Next time we will do it better. It didn’t get me. They’ll try it again next time.
“All these coins, they tried, but didn’t get it. They got the coach years ago.”
Jurgen Klopp, the opponent, had not been informed of the matter but apologized for it on behalf the home club.
He said: “Oh, horrible. I am sorry. I am sorry. It was something I didn’t know about. It never should happen, never.”
It was not the only unsavoury incident on Sunday with Liverpool also expressing their disappointment at chanting and vandalism by City fans referencing ‘chants relating to stadium tragedies.’
There was some chanting, but graffiti was also left at the Anfield Road End. This is where visiting supporters are housed.
The PA news agency reports some of the graffiti referred to ‘murderers’ and the number of people killed at both Heysel and Hillsborough.
A Liverpool statement read: “We are deeply disappointed to hear vile chants relating to football stadium tragedies from the away section during today’s game at Anfield. A similar graffiti was also left on the concourse of the away section.
“We know the impact such behaviour has on the families, survivors and all those associated with such disasters.
“We are working with the relevant authorities in order to do our utmost to ensure these chants are eradicated from football altogether.”
Guardiola also bemoaned the decision to disallow Foden’s strike and lamented the mistake which led to Mohamed Salah’s decisive goal.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “This is Anfield, every time you come here lately unfortunately this is Anfield.
“We played a really good game but this is a game where there are really fine margins and the mistakes are punished.
“We made a mistake and we cannot concede and that’s why we lost the game.
“We played to beat LiverpoolToday, it was clear that we wanted to win. The crowd booed after 1-0, but we yelled louder on the pitch.
“The referee said play on, play on, play on, there were a thousand million fouls like this and this one is because we scored a goal.
“So they disallowed because we scored a goal, otherwise it would not have been disallowed. We lost because we make a mistake but this is Anfield.”
