Liverpool and Man City spat rumbles on as FSG owner's wife takes aim at Guardiola's men

Linda Pizzuti, wife of Liverpool chief John W. Henry, has struck out at Manchester City for ‘thinking of the Reds’ on the day they won the Premier League title for a fourth consecutive season. Her comments came after City took a pop at Liverpool by tweaking their ‘this means more’ mantra to ‘this means four’ in a targeted social media post.

City’s ‘this means four’ post on X (formerly known as Twitter) was no accident. Earlier this season, Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold claimed that silverware would mean more to Reds fans than it would to City supporters due to the differing financial situations at both clubs.

In the end, Guardiola’s side banked the Premier League trophy with a win over West Ham on the final day. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal took it to the wire, while Liverpool fell away in the final weeks of Jurgen Klopp’s farewell campaign.

Responding to City’s ‘this means four’ jibe with a social media post of her own, and with more than a hint of sarcasm, Pizzuti wrote on Instagram: “A sincere congratulations to Man City – Premier League champions!

“So much respect for this tremendous achievement. Thank you for thinking of us on your special day.” Liverpool will hope to come again next term when Arne Slot takes over from Klopp in the dugout.

The Carabao Cup is all the German has to show for what was, at one point, shaping up to be a fairytale send-off season. But the Reds did at least finish 2023/24 on a positive note by beating Wolves 2-0 at Anfield.

Nelson Semedo’s early red card allowed Liverpool to cruise through the rest of the match. And they could have added to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Jarell Quansah if any of their other 34 shots had found their mark.

“I love everything about this place but today felt more like a start than an end,” Klopp told BBC Sport after the final whistle. “It feels like I was here for a purpose – job done – and now from here, they can go [on].

“I don’t know if that’s exactly how it is but I’m happy. I’m happy with the performance, I’m happy with the atmosphere, I’m happy with the people, I’m happy with my time here. Everything looks so positive and I can’t wait to watch this team in the future.”

With Fenway Sports Group chief John W. Henry already casting an eye towards next season and how the post-Klopp era may unfold, City still have business to attend to at Wembley in the form of an FA Cup final against Manchester United on Saturday.