Phil Foden adds exquisite grace note as Anfield hosts a paean to football | Barney Ronay

Manchester City playmaker gave a reminder of his frightening talent in a meeting with Liverpool that offered endless thrills

There was a nice moment at the end of this game. As the players milled around the centre circle drawing a breath, and as Phil Foden went to place a fond arm round the shoulder of James Milner, who had spent the first half trying, and mainly failing, to body-check him into the advert boards, the crowd in the seats and the walkways stopped to give the players a gentle, rippling ovation.

It was that kind of afternoon. At kick-off Anfield had been illuminated by soft, autumnal sun at one end, the chill beginning to creep in under a powder-blue sky. What followed was a glorious, ragged, brilliantly high-craft spectacle as the players of Liverpool and Manchester City produced a full-throated hymn to the unkempt beauty of football even at this rarefied level, its rough edges and strange energies.