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A day at the Etihad with Club Level seats and pre-match dining.
Manchester
11°
Rain showers
Our best tips
Manchester in October averages 8–14°C. Rain is common (roughly 22 days of the month), so a waterproof layer is essential, not optional.
Smart casual is the standard in Premier League hospitality suites. Think collared shirts and smart trousers rather than replica kits. Most venues will turn away guests in sportswear or football shirts.
Arrive at Etihad Stadium at least two hours before kick-off to enjoy the full pre-match hospitality. Bring a valid photo ID, as most Premier League venues require one for entry.
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F1, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the Six Nations, Glastonbury. If it sells out in minutes, we have people on the door.
Getting around
The Etihad Campus tram stop is right next to the stadium on the Ashton-under-Lyne line. Trams run regularly from Manchester Piccadilly and the city centre.
Ride-hailing and black cabs are available throughout Manchester. Drop-off is usually on Ashton New Road, a short walk from the hospitality entrances.
Manchester Piccadilly is the nearest mainline station. From there, the Metrolink tram takes around ten minutes to the ground.
Manchester City and Liverpool have been meeting on the football pitch since 1893, but the fixture's transformation into English football's defining rivalry is a distinctly modern phenomenon. What was once a respectful, occasionally spicy encounter between two north-west clubs has become the match that decides titles, shapes seasons, and produces moments that lodge permanently in the memory. Since 2018, these two sides have pushed each other to historically unprecedented points tallies, turning every meeting into an event that carries weight far beyond three points.
Liverpool are the strongest rival I have ever faced in my career as a manager.
The intensity of the games against City is absolutely special. It's the best against the best.
Liverpool won the first meeting. Neither side saw what was coming.
On 16 September 1893, Ardwick AFC (who would become Manchester City the following year) hosted Liverpool in a Football League Second Division match. Liverpool won 1-0. Neither club could have imagined that this modest fixture would eventually become the most consequential rivalry in English football.
City lifted their first silverware in 1904; Liverpool had already taken the league title three years prior.
City claimed their first major honour with the 1904 FA Cup, while Liverpool had already won their first league title in 1901. Both clubs were firmly established in the top flight, and meetings between them became regular fixtures in the First Division calendar. The rivalry in this era was cordial rather than combustible; two north-west clubs with shared working-class roots and mutual respect.
Trautmann lifted the Cup with a broken neck; Liverpool weren't even in the top flight to notice.
Manchester City won the 1956 FA Cup final 3-1 against Birmingham City, with the famous Bert Trautmann playing on despite a broken neck. Liverpool, by contrast, were languishing in the Second Division, having been relegated in 1954. The two clubs' fortunes had diverged sharply, and meetings between them were rare during this period.
Four European Cups to City's League Cup; Liverpool were royalty whilst City were scrambling to stay afloat.
Bill Shankly and then Bob Paisley turned Liverpool into the most successful club in English football. Four European Cups between 1977 and 1984 placed them on an entirely different plane. City, meanwhile, won the League Cup in 1976 but were sliding towards relegation. The fixture became a mismatch: Liverpool were European royalty, City were fighting for survival. The power imbalance would persist for decades.
A 48,000-seat stadium and a mid-table league position; ambition had found its address before the club had earned it.
City left Maine Road after 80 years and relocated to the City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad), built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The move gave City a 48,000-seat home and a platform for ambition, though the club was still a mid-table Premier League side. Liverpool remained among England's elite, regularly competing in the Champions League. The gap between the two clubs was still vast.
Sheikh Mansour's billions arrived in September 2008; a British record signing followed within hours, and English football has never quite recovered.
Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group completed their takeover of Manchester City in September 2008, and English football's landscape shifted permanently. The club signed Robinho from Real Madrid on deadline day for a British record fee. Within three years, City would win the FA Cup. Within four, the Premier League. The stage was being set for a rivalry with Liverpool that neither club's supporters could have predicted.
Five matches won in a row; City stole a title Liverpool had all but wrapped up.
The 2013-14 season provided the first real taste of what this fixture would become. Liverpool, inspired by Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge, led the league with three games remaining. Then Steven Gerrard slipped against Chelsea, and City capitalised ruthlessly, winning their final five matches to claim the title by two points. City's 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield in April, with goals from Kompany and Negredo (and a Skrtel own goal), proved decisive. The pain of that near-miss still lingers at Anfield.
Thirty wins from thirty-eight matches and Liverpool still finished second; that is what Guardiola's City demanded of them.
The 2017-18 season saw Pep Guardiola's City amass 100 points, a Premier League record. But Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool were building something extraordinary of their own. In 2018-19, the two clubs produced the most intense title race in English football history: City finished on 98 points, Liverpool on 97. One point separated them. Liverpool won 30 of 38 league matches and still finished second. The following season, Liverpool stormed to the title with 99 points. The Guardiola-Klopp duel elevated both clubs and redefined what was possible in the English game.
Only the second English club ever to clinch the Treble; City stood where United stood in 1999.
City's historic Treble in 2022-23, winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League, represented the peak of the Guardiola project. They became only the second English club to achieve the feat, after Manchester United in 1999. Liverpool, meanwhile, were rebuilding after Klopp announced his departure for the end of the 2023-24 season. Arne Slot arrived as Klopp's successor and immediately restored Liverpool to title contention, ensuring the fixture retained its status as the Premier League's marquee match.
Two hundred meetings in, and it still feels like the only fixture that truly matters.
Over 200 competitive meetings and counting. The fixture has produced some of the most dramatic moments in Premier League history, from Agüero's last-gasp title winner in 2012 to the breathless 4-3 encounters that have become almost routine. At the Etihad, the atmosphere crackles with an intensity that reflects the stakes. Every meeting between these two sides now carries the weight of a title race, a cup semi-final, or a statement of intent. It is, by any measure, the fixture of the era.
