The unusual display was organised by 1894, a City supporters’ group, as Enzo Maresca’s side travelled to Liverpool for a high-profile Premier League meeting amid continuing controversy over the club’s financial case.
Manchester City players were met by a hostile atmosphere before kick-off, with supporters inside Anfield reacting to the recent verdict concerning alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations.
As Erling Haaland, Rúben Dias, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki approached the travelling support, the inflatable bananas were a conspicuous sight among the away crowd.
The gesture was not simply a spontaneous response to the controversy. It drew on a long-standing piece of Manchester City fan culture, with the inflatable fruit becoming associated with the club during the 1980s.
The tradition dates back to August 1987, when City supporter Frank Newton took a five-foot inflatable banana to Maine Road for a match against Plymouth Argyle.
Dante Friend, from the 1894 supporters’ group, explained how the idea began with a nickname for former City forward Imre Varadi.
“It started because of [former City forward] Imre Varadi,” Friend said.
“It was just one guy at the game who referred to him as ‘Imre Banana’. A guy called Frank Newton took an inflatable banana to the next game, and then everyone started doing it.”
The reference gradually developed into a recognisable part of the club’s supporter culture, giving the Anfield display a historical dimension beyond the immediate tension surrounding the match.
City’s visit came after an independent commission found the club guilty of charges relating to financial-rule breaches over a nine-season period between 2009-10 and 2018-19.
The club denies wrongdoing and has lodged an appeal against the findings. Potential sanctions have been widely discussed, although the final outcome depends on the appeal process.
The travelling supporters’ bananas therefore served two purposes: reviving an established Manchester City tradition while making their presence felt at a ground where the atmosphere was already charged by the financial controversy.
For the supporters, the display offered a distinctive way to respond to the attention surrounding their club without abandoning a piece of City’s own history.