Speaking afterwards, even Slot conceded his side were “close” to perfection.
“At the end the result is the most important, but the performance was great,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “If you want to win against a team like City you have to be good at every part of football. So high defending, low defending, build-up, high, low, everything. They bring so many challenges to you.
“In every game you want to start in the best possible way, but we did start the way we wanted it. That always helps because if you start poorly the fans are against you.
“If you start like this it gives energy to the players. And also with the crowd behind you that also gives you extra energy.”
There was no doubting the excitement inside Anfield, which was brought to a frenzy by Liverpool’s early siege that left City visibly bewildered by what had hit them.
In that opening quarter Liverpool enjoyed 61% possession and had seven shots to none from City. In fact, it took Guardiola’s side 39 minutes to muster an attempt on goal of any description – their longest wait for a shot in a Premier League game since 2010.
Up until that point it had been one-way traffic, wave after wave of attack.
Such was the scale of Liverpool’s first-half domination that goalscorer Gakpo had as many touches in the opposition box, eight, as the entire Manchester City team combined in the first half.
Across the entire game Liverpool made City do more running, Guardiola’s side getting through 111.1km compared to the hosts’ 107.2km. And it certainly felt like City were running to stand still in what was, for the large part, a harrowing Anfield experience.
