Suárez's header had shattered whatever hope of a comeback Manchester City still had.
It left the entire City side sunk in defeat.
Out on the pitch, City's players looked as though every ounce of strength had been drained out of them. Heads down, eyes hollow, they'd wanted the title and in theory, it was still mathematically possible.
But everyone knew the truth.
This season was over.
Torn open again and again by Liverpool's attacks, all that was left now was to let the despair spread.
On the touchline, Pellegrini stood there, just stood there.
The last flicker of hope in his chest finally went out.
He'd already used all three of his substitutions. There was no one left on the bench, nothing more he could do. It felt like it was already finished.
All Pellegrini could manage was a limited tactical gesture—waving his players forward, telling them to completely abandon defence and throw everything into one last push.
But by this point City had no shape left. Their attack was chaos, passes were going astray one after another, and at the back it was even worse with gaps everywhere, and no way to build anything resembling a real counter.
Liverpool seized on City's desperation and pulled tightening up their lines in, while still keeping a threat up front.
The moment they won the ball back, they broke forward fast, coming close more than once to adding to the scoreline, sending City's defence into a panic, forced back again and again, looking more ragged by the minute.
The match crept toward its close.
In the 82nd minute, Liverpool created another chance. Julien picked up Gerrard's through ball in the final third, took a touch to kill it, beat his man, and drove into the box.
Then with Kompany scrambling across to cover, he sent it to Suárez.
Suárez slid it toward the empty net but maybe the lead had made him careless, because he never saw Demichelis coming in at an angle.
The shot was barely away before Demichelis, racing back into position, got across with a sliding block and hacked it behind for a corner.
A collective gasp went up.
Anfield let out a groan of near-miss frustration, but it didn't dent the mood for a second.
A 3–1 lead was more than solid enough by now.
They knew it. This title showdown belonged to Liverpool.
In the 88th minute, City raised one final attack.
Milner drove the ball forward through midfield, only for Kanté to strip it clean off him.
Liverpool snuffed out City's last surge and with it, whatever hope City had left.
Out on the pitch, City's players had all but stopped fighting.
At last, As stoppage time drew to a close.
The whistle screamed.
Clattenburg's final blast tore through the noise at Anfield, bringing the title showdown to its close, Liverpool had beaten Manchester City, 3–1!
A roar went up.
Then another, louder roared!
Anfield erupted in a wall of noise more deafening and more delirious than any single goal celebration all season.
Fans waved red scarves and club flags, climbing onto their seats, screaming hoarse.
Some embraced each other in tears.
Others finally pulled out the banners they'd kept folded away all match, raising them high: "Premier League champions, here we come!"
Everyone was letting the joy pour out, unrestrainedly.
As though they'd already lifted this season's Premier League trophy.
Liverpool's players fell into one another's arms celebrating the win.
Up in the commentary box, Martin Tyler was calling it. "Full time! Liverpool beat Manchester City three-one! The Reds have won this crucial title showdown! This is a decisive victory—a victory that has all but settled where this season's Premier League title is going!
There are just four rounds of the season left!
With this win, Liverpool have opened up a huge gap at the top—eleven points clear of today's opponents, City!
Eleven points, with only four games left. City are all but out of it. There is no realistic way back into this title race for them now!
All eyes now turn to Chelsea—tomorrow night, they travel to relegation-threatened Swansea.
Right now, Liverpool have a game in hand and lead Chelsea by twelve points!
Which means—if Chelsea lose tomorrow night, Liverpool can all but call themselves champions, right here, right now!
And even if Chelsea win, a nine-point gap leaves their hopes of a comeback vanishingly thin. Liverpool's road to the title has never looked brighter!"
After shaking Klopp's hand, Pellegrini walked straight down the tunnel.
He had no desire to face Anfield's celebration.
He knew this defeat hadn't just cost his side the match—it had cost Manchester City the entire season.
His own hopes of this year's Premier League title were gone for good.
Out on the pitch, the party at Anfield rolled on—the shouting, the singing, the flags all were weaving together into one long victory anthem for the Reds.
After the match, Klopp didn't get much time to sit with the joy of the win before he was pulled into the mixed zone to face the press.
Fielding questions from reporters, Klopp turned first to the title showdown itself.
"I'm proud of my players—they were outstanding today. From the high press at kick-off, to the tactical tweaks at half-time, to holding the lead and then extending it—every single player gave everything they had."
He paused, sounding moved. "We all knew what this game meant. City are a very strong side with good players, and strong fighting spirit, especially after they pulled a goal back in the second half, they came at us hard. But my players didn't panic. They found their rhythm again, and in the end, we pushed harder than they did and took the win. We deserved this one."
When asked about the title race ahead, Klopp kept his composure.
"Right now, we're in a very good position. This win puts us eleven points clear of City with four games left—that's an advantage our players earned with sweat.
But I have to remind everyone—we haven't won anything yet. We can't afford to relax for a second. Anything can still happen.
Whatever happens down the line, right now we need to stay focused on our own games—play well, and value every point."
He added, "We want this trophy. We want to bring glory to Anfield. We want our fans to be proud of us. But we know that to get there, we still have work to do—we can't take anything for granted. Every match is a battle, every point matters, and we'll take it step by step, all the way to the final whistle—all the way until we're actually holding that trophy."
The questions turned to the FA Cup semifinal against Wigan Athletic, three days away.
When he was asked whether he believed in a possible treble, Klopp answered with real fire.
"This is nowhere near an easy game. We can't afford to get comfortable just because we beat City.
Wigan are a tough, stubborn side. They have their own way of playing, and they're capable of causing us real problems, so we need to be fully committed, properly prepared, and take care of every detail if we want this result.
I know a lot of our fans are dreaming of the treble—it's a huge goal, a dream all of us share.
But I want to say this—the treble isn't won by wishing for it. It has to be earned, one match at a time.
We've won this title showdown, we're in a strong position in the league, and we've reached the FA Cup semifinal too. That's a good start but it's still nowhere near enough.
Over the next few days, we'll get our recovery sorted quickly, study Wigan's tactics closely, and prepare properly, specifically for them.
I believe in my players. I believe in this team. If we stay united and give everything we have, we have a real chance at something great—a chance to bring trophy after trophy back to Liverpool…"
That night, Anfield's celebration never let up. A red tide swept across the whole city.
The papers were full of it:
"Unstoppable De Rocca, unstoppable Liverpool!
In a Premier League title showdown watched by the whole football world, Liverpool beat bitter rivals Manchester City 3–1 in imposing fashion, all but settling this season's title race and moving within touching distance of the club's first-ever Premier League crown!
Under Klopp, this Liverpool side looks unstoppable—steadily marching toward glory, with a genuine shot at a miracle season and a run at the treble."
"Liverpool's first Premier League title—it's coming!"
"Julien De Rocca's personal records keep climbing! He's on course to push the Premier League scoring record somewhere no one else can reach!"
…
Story after story was sending Liverpool's fans into a frenzy of celebration.
Meanwhile, with Liverpool's win over City now in the books,
Chelsea remained the only side left, in theory, still capable of challenging for the title.
The next day, Swansea hosted Chelsea at home, and the match drew huge attention in its own right.
Even Liverpool's players tuned in to watch the broadcast, start to finish.
For one afternoon, they were all suddenly die-hard Swansea fans of twenty years' standing.
Unfortunately, after ninety hard-fought minutes, Chelsea edged out ten-man Swansea 1–0 thanks to a decisive goal from Demba Ba.
The Blues stayed within touching distance of Liverpool on the table, holding onto second place—keeping a sliver of hope alive for the title race.
Chelsea came out of the gates with clear intent from the first whistle.
With Liverpool having stretched their lead, the Blues could no longer afford any slip-ups.
Swansea, though, refused to surrender easily. Even after going down to ten men in the first half from two accumulated yellow cards, they dug in, holding their defensive form through sheer grit and team cohesion, keeping Chelsea from breaking through despite playing a man up for long stretches.
For a while, the match stayed locked in a stalemate.
Through the whole first half, Chelsea had the numerical edge and led in both possession and shots.
But Swansea's solid defence kept frustrating the Blues at every turn. Demba Ba had several efforts in the first half, either drifting wide or turned away by a strong save from the Swansea keeper.
The two sides went into the break level at 0–0.
The second half told a different story once Mourinho made his adjustments from the touchline.
He pulled off midfielder Ramires and brought on Eto'o, adding another body in the box, while freeing up Oscar to focus on commanding the midfield and running the attack.
The change completely shifted the balance of the game. Chelsea's tempo picked up sharply, and they kept stretching Swansea's ten men, probing for gaps and piling on the pressure.
Deep into the second half, Chelsea finally found their breakthrough. Demba Ba, with his usual instinct for goal, calmly finished off a teammate's pass to score the only goal of the match, sealing a 1–0 win for the Blues.
How the match unfolded hardly mattered in the end.
The result was that Chelsea had won.
Notably, after the final whistle, Mourinho didn't appear in the mixed zone and gave no interviews to the press.
Assistant coach Steve Holland stood in for him instead, fielding the media's questions about the match.
As for why Mourinho skipped the interview, nobody really knew.
There was plenty of speculation, but nothing more.
Holland began by stressing how hard-fought the game had been, and gave credit to Swansea's performance.
"Regarding the two yellow cards our opponents picked up early in the match, I think both bookings were absolutely correct. The referee's decisions were fair and consistent—those were fouls that deserved a card, no question.
When you're playing eleven against ten, it doesn't always make things easier for you, because the other side tends to get more careful, more disciplined, in every phase of the game and that actually makes things harder for us.
We did everything we could to use the space and change our rhythm to find a way through, but realistically, when the other team is fully committed to defending, it's very hard to break them down."
When he was asked about how Liverpool's win over City, and the widened gap at the top, affected Chelsea's title hopes, Holland stayed defiant, laying out the team's determination to keep fighting.
"It's clear that Liverpool's win hasn't changed much for us. We're still nine points behind, and City are even further behind than we are.
Everyone knows that if we want to win the title in the end, we have to win every remaining game.
Liverpool and Chelsea still have a head-to-head match to come, and I think that's going to be the most important game of the run-in. Even if it's just a small chance, we're going to fight for it."
Three days passed in a blur.
The entire city of Liverpool was wrapped in a restlessness it couldn't hide.
Ever since the Reds beat City in the title showdown and Chelsea narrowly got past Swansea, every Liverpool supporter's mind had been consumed with double anticipation—the Premier League title, and the FA Cup.
On every street corner, in every pub and restaurant, everywhere fans gathered, the conversation always circled back to Liverpool.
Some were counting down to the next Premier League fixture, hoping to see the club lock up its first-ever league title as soon as possible.
Others were buzzing about the FA Cup semifinal, hoping the Reds could get through and take one more step toward a double or a treble.
There was a restlessness in the air.
Everyone wanted time to move faster, desperate to witness the moment Liverpool were finally crowned champions!
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