London: Manchester City will form a guard of honor for new English Premier League champion Liverpool when they meet next Thursday, City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Liverpool on Friday took the title that City have owned for the last two years.
When English soccer resumed this month, Liverpool's trip to Etihad Stadium was a potentially decisive game in the title race.
But City's loss at Chelsea on Thursday put Liverpool mathematically out of reach, and Guardiola feels it would be sporting to pay tribute to the new champs.
"We are going to do the guard of honor, of course," Guardiola said.
"Always we receive Liverpool when they come to our house in an incredible way. They cannot complain and of course we are going to do it because they deserve it."
Liverpool holds a 23-point advantage over second-placed City.
Interestingly, it's Liverpool's first league title since 1990.
After a dominant campaign that was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, Liverpool became England's earliest-ever champion — and the latest.
No team since the inception of the country's league system in 1888 has clinched the title with seven games remaining. And no team has been crowned Premier League champion in June.
The title itself had hardly been in doubt since December, with Jurgen Klopp's team quickly building a massive lead with a rampant attacking style of play that has earned 28 wins in 31 games so far.
For a while, though, it seemed the coronavirus could still prevent Liverpool from ending its drought.
The club was 25 points clear when the league was abruptly halted in March as the country was forced into lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The last time Liverpool won the league, it was still called the First Division and the club held the English record for most titles with 18. But the inception of the Premier League in 1992 transformed the landscape of the English game. Liverpool faded as a force, to be eclipsed by Manchester United.
Sweeping to 13 Premier League titles, United manager Alex Ferguson succeeded in his mission of knocking Liverpool "off their perch" by helping the Mancunians become 20-time English champions and one of the wealthiest sports teams in the world.
