A beaten Pep Guardiola taunted goading Liverpool fans with a reference to his haul of six Premier League titles as Manchester City were dealt another major blow in their hunt for a seventh.
Guardiola’s side saw their winless run extended to seven games as they suffered yet another league defeat in a 2-0 reverse at Anfield.
An early goal from Cody Gakpo was backed up by a second-half penalty from Mohamed Salah with the visitors unable to regularly test Caoimhin Kelleher in the Liverpool goal.
Any hopes of a genuine title challenge now appear slim with their opponents 11 points ahead of their long-time rivals.
Arsenal and Chelsea are Liverpool’s closest challengers, nine points behind a side going from strength to strength under Arne Slot.
With the home fans in good voice late on, Guardiola was drawn into a response as he watched the final stages of the clash.
Turning to the supporters beyond him, the Catalan manager held up six fingers in an apparent reference to his tally of titles since arriving at the Etihad Stadium.
Some Liverpool supporters appeared to be chanting: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”
And Guardiola felt he deserved more respect from the Liverpool fans than to be taunted during Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Sunday.
It is the worst run of Guardiola’s glittering career but he responded to the jibes by holding up six fingers to represent the number of league titles he has won with City.
It was a good-humoured but nevertheless defiant gesture from Guardiola, whose past battles with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are among the competition’s most storied.
Guardiola, who has now lost six out of seven in all competitions, said: “I’m so proud of my six Premier Leagues against that team (Liverpool) and the previous teams.
“I didn’t expect Anfield to start to chant at 0-2 that I would be sacked.
“Maybe I deserve to be sacked, honestly, with our results, or maybe I’m still in the job because I won six Premier Leagues and a lot of titles!
“But I didn’t expect them to sing at 0-2. Maybe they should sing at 0-1 when the game was tighter or maybe last season or the previous season.
“Maybe in Brighton they did it, so I understand, but at Anfield I didn’t expect it. But it’s fine. It’s part of the game. When you win, you laugh, when you lose, they laugh. I have to accept it.”
Klopp led Liverpool to their lone Premier League triumph in the 2019/20 season, the only time Manchester City have been denied the title since 2017.