After all that furore, after all that debate, Manchester City's guard of honour for Premier League champions Liverpool went down like a damp squib.
With all the Citizens' players maintaining social distancing protocols, they unenthusiastically applauded Jurgen Klopp's mentality monsters as they made their way onto the Etihad Stadium turf.
The guard of honour #LFC #MCILIV ? pic.twitter.com/hLMED0ECjY
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) July 2, 2020
The Reds are out to a guard of honour at the Etihad ??#MCILIV pic.twitter.com/oVuEuBUR0n
— Liverpool FC (Premier League Champions ?) (@LFC) July 2, 2020
In fact, the event was so boring to some City players that several even elected to skulk off down the tunnel before all of the Reds players were done walking pasting them.
The bloody cheek of it, ay? Unsurprisingly, Liverpool Twitter was not best pleased.
Hahahah City players walking off before all of the Liverpool team were past them, lovely
— Stuart Broad Headband Ultra (@ThatChris1209) July 2, 2020
Saltiest guard of honour EVRR LMAOOOOOOOOOO
— CHAMP19NS (@Kashaveli_) July 2, 2020
Social distancing means we get the longest guard of honour in history. Ahhhhhh
— Tommy (@TLister77) July 2, 2020
I wondered what it would be like when Man City gave us the Guard of Honour, but it was exactly as I thought it would be, they just clapped us out.
— Boring James Milner (@BoringMilner) July 2, 2020
And of course, fans of other clubs were quick to remind the Redmen that their guard of honour wasn't as good as theirs.
Childish, really. Still, quite funny in a petty sort of way.
The guard of honour of all guard of honours. None come close to this. pic.twitter.com/751no6tOqo
— The Man Utd Way (@TheManUtdWay) July 2, 2020
Never forget that Leicester got a guard of honour at stamford bridge
— lewis (@lcfc_lewisV2) July 2, 2020
Even though the guard of honour ended up being a tad underwhelming, the fireworks that suddenly started going off outside the stadium about ten minutes after kick off more than made up for it.
This spontaneous bit of entertainment in an otherwise drab opening to the game soon birthed a string of conspiracy theories over who was responsible.
Gary Neville even joined in on commentary, claiming that his partner in crime Jamie Carragher was to blame. Twitter had a few other ideas, though.
9. Lots of fireworks can be heard from outside the Etihad - nice to hear March's Carabao Cup victory hasn’t been forgotten just yet! ?
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 2, 2020
? 0-0 ? #ManCity
Is the firework from city?
— Alexander?? (@AlexanderJonckh) July 2, 2020
Who’s at the Etihad with fireworks? ?
— Roopa* (@LFC_RV) July 2, 2020
Liverpool fans have turned up with Firworks at the Etihad and the fireworks weren't even good enough to see from inside the stadium ? pic.twitter.com/v9yUKUMf1T
— Rusty B ⚽️?? (@StretfordEnd_10) July 2, 2020
Source : 90min