The only way to describe the brilliance of City-Liverpool is with sports clichés

John Stones’ remarkable, game-changing clear off the line against Liverpool was a result of every sports cliché that we’ve come to take for granted.

The most incredible and representative sequence of Manchester City-Liverpool was John Stones clearing the ball off the line 17 minutes into the first half.

A good interchange of play between Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino in the middle allowed Salah to send Sadio Mane through on goal, with Stones on his left shoulder. Mane managed to get a shot off past Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, but the ball bounced off the post, setting off a hectic chain of events that ended in Stones doing a full 180-degree turn to save a goal.

This is how close the ball was to going completely over the line according to goal-line imaging technology:

Stones’ clearance was an example of pure determination, and in a tense game that had season-changing consequences, that factor was critical to an eventual 2-1 City win. Had Stones not continued to chase the ball — nor had the presence of mind to spin and hoof it clear, nor been right on time to the ball, nor cleared it at the exact height that he did — the ball would have went over the line, resulting in a goal, rather than a memorable nutmegging of Salah.

To say that soccer is a game of margins is redundant, because that’s true of any sport. When talented professionals compete against other talented professionals, shots, passes, and dribbles have to be precise to be successful. The margin of error gets smaller the more talented and disciplined the teams are. It’s simple.

What gives the cliché any substance are events like Stones’ clearance. When everything else is equal, thing like desire, fight, guts, passion — all those sports qualities that so seem trite — create the luck necessary for victory.

Liverpool came into the match with a seven-point lead over City at the top of the table. Had they won, the title race would have been effectively over, because the team has seemed too good to lose at the hands of anyone except City. Liverpool had been undefeated in the league to that point, and even City had failed to beat them in their last five meetings in any competition.

The game was as tense and anxious as anticipated. Dominance ebbed and flowed. Sometimes Liverpool seemed to be in control, but then just as quickly as their reign started, City would pin them back in their own defensive third.

Throughout, the players moved at alarming speed. The game was breathless and exhausting to watch.

There was evidence of that effort all over the field. Within the first five minutes, Fernandinho committed two bookable offenses. Dejan Lovren was booked by the 20th. Vincent Kompany had a tackle 10 minutes later against Salah that could have seen the defender sent off. David Silva had a golden chance that was blocked because he chose to take two touches instead of taking it first time. The first goal came when Sergio Aguero preyed on Lovren’s inattention while the Argentine was on the ground complaining about what he saw as a foul by Virgil van Dijk. And as well as Stones, Kompany also had to clear the ball off the line twice to save his team.

In a game so evenly matched, platitudes of fight and heart filled the margins. After the game, Kompany championed those usually empty phrases: “More than how we play football, the way we showed desire to win the game ... It’s not even the result ... it’s the guts that we had.”

That’s not to say that City wanted the game more than Liverpool, or that their players ran and worked harder. But by matching Liverpool’s intensity and staying disciplined and determined in all phases of the game, City were able to benefit from the luck that often plays a role in big matches. Chasing Mane’s shot when most defenders would have stopped is a heroic action when the margin for victory is infinitesimal.

Stones’ determination was reflected in all of his teammates, but especially Bernardo Silva, who ran and made more tackles than anyone else in the game.

In the dying seconds, Liverpool had a throw by the halfway line. The plan at that point was to get the ball in play and then send it into the box for a last chance. But as soon as the ball came in from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson passed it back, Silva came sprinting from the middle of the field and slid to send the ball out again. The match ended right after.

The play was just another example of the plays that can make a difference at the margins. Desire, guts, and fight are often referenced when proper analysis is lacking, but in big games it is heartening to see that individual and collective passion can still have an effect. That no matter how big the game grows, and how unimaginably talented the athletes become, those relatable qualities of effort and bravery are still vital for success. That the players care and are as committed to their teams as much as the fans are.

And that beyond the tactical revolutions and billions of dollars in the sport, there’s still a shared intimacy between fans and players that makes matches like this so entrancing.