The Liverpool side who lost more than most to Manchester City cheating: 'We fought a team who had an unfair advantage'

This feature revisits one of the most dramatic title races in Premier League history, when Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool amassed 97 points but finished second to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, who finished on 98. The piece gathers reflections from key Liverpool players including Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, and Roberto Firmino, alongside staff, about what it felt like to push City so hard only to fall short. The retrospective is framed by the recent independent panel ruling that found City had breached Premier League profit and sustainability rules, validating longstanding suspicions about how the club funded its rise. Players describe a sense that the competition was never truly level, though they also acknowledge City were an exceptional footballing side.