As strange as it may seem, there would have been a small part of events at Anfield that would have appealed to Pep Guardiola.

It was perhaps not when the Manchester City team coach was snaking through the streets outside the ground at 6.20pm, firecrackers landing on the roof of the vehicle and beer cans bouncing off the windows in unsavoury, unnecessary scenes.

And it was probably not during that 19-minute, first-half blitzkrieg when Liverpool scored three goals to take a stranglehold on an exhilarating Champions League quarter-final (although Manchester City conceded three goals in nine minutes in the Premier League game back in January so technically this amounted to an improvement).

The streets around Anfield were thronged with fans before the game SHAUN BOTTERILL/GETTY IMAGES

But everything else - the passion, culture and mystique that Liverpool inspire,