Gary Neville has praised Liverpool FC for their “exceptional” response in the second half of their 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.
The Merseyside outfit twice had to come from behind against the Citizens as they played out a thrilling draw at The Etihad to leave the title race hanging in the balance.
Manchester City dominated the first half and could have pulled further away from their rivals but ended up going in 2-1 up at half-time thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus either side of Diogo Jota’s equaliser.
Liverpool FC equalised once again at the start of the second half thanks to Sadio Mane’s goal and the strike turned out to be the final one of the game as the title clash ended up all square.
The result leaves Manchester City still one point ahead of Liverpool FC in the Premier League table with seven games left to play.
Former Manchester United defender Neville was highly impressed by the way Liverpool FC managed to put their first-half performance behind them and improve after the break in Sunday’s clash.
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, Neville said: “Before the game, I thought a point would be better for City, but at half-time, the game could have been out of sight.
“The response from Liverpool in the second half was exceptional after being so poor, so below the standard in the first half.
“I always remember playing under Sir Alex Ferguson, if we played badly in the first half of a big game at the end of the season he would ask if we’d fought all season to play like that.
“It was almost as if at half-time Jurgen Klopp had to say, ‘come on, we’ve built this team for three or four years and yet you’ve shown no authority, you’ve frozen, you’ve defended poorly’.
“I have to say, Liverpool responded brilliantly, and at the end of the game, considering where they were at half-time [it was a better point for Liverpool FC].
“But City could have won the title [on Sunday] had they won the game; I don’t think Liverpool could have because they have harder remaining games.
“But things move on, it wouldn’t surprise me if both teams won every game until the end of the season and Liverpool are sat thinking ‘I wish we played better in the first half?’ But we don’t know, there is still a long way to go.”
Speaking after the game, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp described the draw as a result his team “will have to live with”.
“It was a great game and a result we have to live with and can live with,” said Klopp.
“What a game. Wild. The intensity of the game was crazy. It was two heavyweights, chomping at each other. We had to suffer, they had to suffer.”
Next up for Liverpool FC is the home leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Benfica at Anfield on Wednesday night.