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Jamie Carragher hailed Liverpool’s “mentality” after they twice fought back to seal a 2-2 draw with Premier League leaders Manchester City on Sunday.
The Reds remain just a point behind Pep Guardiola’s side with seven games remaining after Sadio Mane’s goal early in the second half.
Diogo Jota had earlier cancelled out Kevin de Bruyne’s deflected opener, before Gabriel Jesus restored City’s advantage.
Mane’s fine strike meant City had scored the first goal and not gone on to win in the Premier League this season for the first time this season, the reigning champions having done so in all 22 games when scoring first prior to the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s men.
Carragher, who made 737 appearances for Liverpool between 1996 and 2013, was impressed with his former’s side ability to dig in for a draw after being blown away by City in the first half.
“From Liverpool’s point of view, the mentality to come out in the second half and turn it around after that first-half display was impressive,” he said on Sky Sports.
“It looked like they didn’t have any energy in the first half, but their mindset changed. I don’t think they did anything particularly different. They still played a high line.
“Considering how good City were in the first half, to then come out and give that performance and match them – maybe be even better than them for the first 30 minutes in the second half – was so impressive.”
The result meant Liverpool are now winless in five Premier League matches against City (D3 L2), which is their joint-longest run without a victory against them along with a five-game run between November 2011 and December 2013.
Despite that, former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane said Klopp’s men deserve plenty of credit for their performance.
“We saw today the different qualities, City outstanding first half and Liverpool showed their quality second half,” he said. “All the talk was it would not be decided today [the title] but they played like it was going to be. It was like a final. I think a draw was a fair result.
“What impressed me with all these top-quality players was their desire to keep going for their win at the end. No team was going to dominate for long spells as there is so much quality on both sides.
“Liverpool showed their character in the second half. But then City had great chances as well. A great reminder to us all of what this game is about.”
