As Manchester United counted down the minutes to their defeat of Manchester City, Liverpool fans faced an existential crisis. This is why.
In a fight to the death between two enemies, how do you decide which one you’d like to see emerge victor? Is it the old, traditional foe or the new upstart challenging your crown?
Manchester United have fallen on self-inflicted hard times recently, which delights and amuses everyone connected to Liverpool, while Manchester City are the New Big Thing intent on world domination.
The Reds have stood in the way of that, last season and this. So when old and new clash in the crumbling symbol of the former’s power, who do you pick?
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Is it old, safe in the knowledge that their victory will help Liverpool win the Premier League for the first time in 30 years that little bit easier. Or is it new and revel in the despair and misery and heightened chance of their prolonged downward spiral.
A loss at Old Trafford would have made it more difficult for United to progress into a European competition next season and quickened their slide into irrelevance but it would have kept City *theoretically* in the title race for an extra week.
In the end a lot of fans settled for somewhere in the middle. A draw, it was decided, would help avoiding making difficult decisions for now.
Manchester United did manage to get those three points, via Anthony Martial and Scott McTominay at the very end. It means United are fifth, two points above Wolves.
Liverpool can win the league if City drop points in any of their next two games and they beat Everton on Monday – or they’ll only need six more points to win the title.
True Geordie absolutely spot on about other clubs and Liverpool this year pic.twitter.com/tBXaAXvBlB
— Tommy (@Tommy___77) March 7, 2020
An existential crisis may have been faced and dealt with, and out of it something far more exciting has developed.