11 March 2024 , 22:30
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Manuel Akanji has told Trent Alexander-Arnold to keep his mouth shut until Liverpool win the Treble.
Alexander-Arnold stoked up the tension between the title rivals by claiming Liverpool’s trophies mean more than Manchester City’s success. It has raised the stakes in the three-horse title race with Akanji clearly unhappy about Alexander-Arnold’s remarks which suggested City’s spending power has turned them into a “winning machine.”
City boss Pep Guardiola has won 14 trophies during his reign at the Etihad, including the Treble last season and a total of five trophies as they also won the European Super Cup and Club World Cup. Liverpool have won seven under Jurgen Klopp and now the pair are going head-to-head with Arsenal but Alexander-Arnold’s remarks have succeeded in firing up City.
City defender Akanji said: “I don’t know why he [Trent] said it. He didn’t even play. He can’t tell because he didn’t win it. That’s all I have to say. If you win three titles in one year, or five [titles] which we did last year, then he can speak again.”
Alexander-Arnold - currently out injured - made the remarks in a magazine interview and Erling Haaland, Guardiola and now Akanji have hit back. It is the first time in ten years there has been a three-horse title race with less than a win separating the top three with ten or fewer games to go.
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City defender Kyle Walker also claimed after Sunday’s draw at Anfield between the two Premier League giants that it had been the talk of the dressing room before the game. Akanji suggested that he believed it was said to try and wind up City, especially with the accusation they had effectively bought the title - but it had failed.
Akanji insisted it did not affect their preparations and added: “No. I don’t think so. Probably he [Trent] tried [to make it so] but it didn’t matter to us. I don’t think it affected us. In the end, we tried to go on the pitch and try to show our performance. I mean, it didn’t affect me.”
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