Gary Neville, a former Manchester United legend and current Sky Sports pundit, faced accusations from fans of being a secret Liverpool fan. The controversy arose when he made a surprising comparison between Manchester City’s goal at Anfield and a goal by Virgil van Dijk that was controversially ruled out in last month’s Carabao Cup final. Many viewers disagreed with Neville’s comparison, arguing that the incidents were entirely different.

 

In the match, John Stones scored for Manchester City by intercepting a cleverly taken corner from Kevin de Bruyne at the near post. However, Neville focused on an incident involving Nathan Ake and Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister in the middle of the box. He drew a parallel between this incident and the highly debated moment from the Wembley showpiece in February when Van Dijk’s goal was disallowed due to Wataru Endo being judged offside and interfering with play. Endo was deemed to be obstructing the movement of Chelsea’s Levi Colwill.

 

Fans were perplexed by Neville’s comparison. One fan questioned Neville’s loyalty, stating, “Gary Neville is a full-on Liverpool fan these days! How is he calling for a foul by Ake?” Another fan wondered why Neville was “bringing up the cup final,” asserting that Endo’s blocking was not a foul but rather interference, resulting in the offside decision. A third observer criticized Neville, claiming he had forgotten that the cup final incident was disallowed because of offside, making it incomparable to the Ake-Mac Allister interaction.

 

Another fan expressed confusion, asking, “Why is Neville trying to create an ‘incident’ when all that Ake and Mac Allister were doing was lean into each other?” Similarly, a fifth fan pointed out that Neville seemed to be biased, as it was Ake’s arm that was being held, suggesting no foul on Ake’s part.

 

However, a few fans disagreed with the majority, with one arguing that Stones’ goal should have been given offside. Ironically, it was Mac Allister who scored a penalty to equalize for Liverpool in the 51st minute of the match.