Manchester City are thought to have broken a Premier League rule in the aftermath of their 3-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday, with Enzo Maresca not speaking with radio broadcasters. The Citizens were met with a frosty reception at Anfield as a result of their guilty verdict regarding 114 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.
Frosty reception at Anfield
Boos and jeers were heard in the build-up to kick-off, as were chants of "You cheating b******s, you know what you are," in a thinly-veiled dig at City's ongoing case. Elsewhere, banners were held up by fans inside Anfield, reading "And after all you really robbed us all," and "All of your stars are fading away."
That didn't prevent the visitors from cruising to a 3-0 win over their neighbours, however, with Maresca's men quick to capitalise on a numerical advantage when Ryan Gravenberch picked up a second yellow card, and subsequently a red, 62 minutes into play.
Match details and rule breach
Erling Haaland broke the deadlock just three minutes after Gravenberch's ejection, with Jeremy Doku finding the back of the net another three minutes later. Rayan Cherki put the final nail in the coffin with around 10 minutes left to play, as City returned to Greater Manchester with all three points, still perched atop the Premier League table.
And while the club have lodged an appeal as they continue to fight their innocence, the Cityzens will be unable to defend a rule-break committed in the aftermath of the weekend's encounter at Anfield. Express Sport understands that the club refused to allow Maresca to speak with radio broadcasters following the match, despite speaking with the likes of Sky Sports and attending a post-match press conference.
As per the Premier League handbook, "Each club participating in a league match must ensure that each radio broadcaster that has the right to the radio transmission of that league match is permitted to interview (a) at least one player who featured prominently in the league match and (b) the manager, following the league match."
Potential punishment and wider impact
While there is no verbatim punishment which the Premier League can hand City for the infraction, it is likely that the club will face an administrative fine for snubbing radio interviews. It comes as City could learn their fate regarding their breaches of the Premier League's financial rules in early 2027.
If their appeal fails, then the club could be landed with a litany of sanctions, dependent on how hard the league opt to throw the book at them. However, as per Gary Neville, the English top flight is in a state of dissaray through the ongoing saga.
Speaking on Sky Sports at the weekend, the pundit said: "The word 'sham' was obviously used quite a lot, and people will think for the next few months it's a sham league. You know, we've heard the word 'cheats' just ring around the ground, basically for the last 10 minutes of the match.
"We've heard Liverpool fans singing 'going down' to a team that are at the very top of the league. And you can't get that negativity out of your heads.
"I mean, what you can do is admire the football, we can admire Erling Haaland and Doku, and the finishes we've seen and the Cherki goal, and the Manchester City fans can celebrate behind the goal. But for the rest of us, we're sat there wondering basically what's going to happen. And yeah, it's damaging. It really is, right now."
