Man City’s Liverpool battle means things can be different in Champions League for Pep Guardiola

Another weekend of the Barclays has passed and it was another when Man City and Liverpool won.

City’s victory was a bit more routine than their title rivals, it must be said. While Pep Guardiola’s men brushed aside Norwich with ease at Carrow Road, Liverpool laboured to a slender 1-0 win away to Burnley.

As Pep Guardiola once famously said, trips to Turf Moor can be a bit like going to the dentist and there might be further teeth-grinding tension to come, with Jurgen Klopp's men still nine-point shy of City with a game in hand.

While most believe that the title race is now a one-team event, with City’s win almost a formality given their relentlessness, Liverpool are still doing their part.

They keep nipping at City’s heels, winning the games they need to, which in turn keeps the pressure on Guardiola’s men.

And the nature of the title race this season could affect how far the club can venture in the Champions League this season.

Cast your mind back to the 2018/19 season, when City and Liverpool went toe-to-toe throughout the campaign. The two teams cut such a breathtaking pace in the fight for the title that Chelsea, who finished behind Liverpool in third, were closer to Newcastle in 13th than to the team immediately above them in terms of points.

It was a contest to see who would blink first and, in the end, Liverpool's eyelids flickered just enough. They only lost once in the league the entire season - when Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane were on target at a raucous Etihad Stadium - but simply drew one too many matches.

City’s fierce battle with Liverpool had consequences, however. With the gap always marginal at best, Guardiola couldn’t afford to rest key players in domestic games before big European ones.

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