At its best, Anfield projects quite a noise, but break that noise up and it will reveal itself in several parts. There is the obvious, deafening roar of the Liverpool faithful. This is the crash of a sea of red, described as a "tsunami" by Pep Guardiola on Saturday evening.

There is also the other, ineffable noise, threaded into Liverpool's very core and brought to life under Jurgen Klopp's leadership. This is the noise that subdued a Manchester City side with a fitter squad and, ostensibly, better available players.

The Premier League saw its final showdown between the two great managers of a generation yesterday, and while a draw was the outcome, Liverpool proved themselves worthy of the title once again with a stunning display, with Alexis Mac Allister's second-half penalty turning the tide.

Alexis Mac Allister's stats vs Manchester City

Virgil van Dijk's captaincy is so important for Liverpool but multiple leaders were missing for the home side, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota injured (among others) and Andy Robertson starting from the bench.

Mac Allister, though, once again proved himself to be the centrepiece of Klopp's machine, netting the all-important equaliser and controlling the fluency of a second half that can only be put as a barrage of Liverpool assaults – punctuated, in fairness, by some near Citizen misses.

Praised for his "outstanding" display by football writer Josh Williams, the Argentine general took 82 touches, completed 82% of his passes, succeeded with his one attempted dribble, won eight of his 13 ground duels and made four tackles, as per Sofascore.

Mac Allister's brilliant; he's really blossomed into a world-class star after a promising but fluctuating opening to his Merseyside career, but for all his brilliance, it might just be anchorman Wataru Endo who was the biggest winner after a sensational effort against the best midfield in the world in Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.

Wataru Endo's performance in numbers

Liverpool signed Endo from Stuttgart for £16m back in August after bitterly losing out to both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to Chelsea, and while there were some bemused faces initially, the Japan international has proved to be one of the shrewdest signings in recent memory.

His task on Saturday, quite simply, was staggering. Manchester City assert themselves like no other outfit on the planet and while Liverpool were on the back foot initially, they grew into the game and Endo's presence at the core was indeed vital, completing a mightily impressive 96% of his passes and losing just one duel.

Minutes played

90'

Touches

67

Accurate passes

55/57 (96%)

Key passes

1

Possession lost

3x

Duels won

6/7

Tackles

3

Interceptions

2

Clearances

2

The 31-year-old won Liverpool's Player of the Month for December before jetting off to the Asia Cup, but he's since returned to continue a brilliant maiden campaign in England that has already bred silverware and could yet see more illustrious heights reached.

Writing in his post-match comments, The Independent's Karl Matchett handed Endo an 8/10 score – the same as Mac Allister – and said: 'Combative, non-stop energy in the centre. Impressive against De Bruyne as the Belgian faded.'

Of course, he wasn't perfect, failing to negate De Bruyne's threat in its entirety, but then, a player of the Belgian's quality will fashion openings regardless of opponent and he did as good a job as good have been imagined.

Endo has proved himself an invaluable member of Klopp's trophy-chasing unit and must continue his placement in the holding midfield for the looming run-in. He might just play a defining role in a grand send-off for his soon-to-step-down manager.