Sometimes, just sometimes, it is all about the game. A serious-looking injury, a red card and a backdrop of financial intrigue might often be enough to reduce the football to a side issue these days, but as the dust settled on an extraordinary afternoon at the City of Manchester Stadium yesterday, it felt fatuous to focus on anything other than an irresistible Liverpool comeback.

At half-time they were 2-0 down to a Manchester City team who seemed intent on claiming a big scalp to convince the rest of English football that they have more to commend them than the fabulous wealth of their new Arab owners. On another day this might have been the story of the collapse that followed, as City fell to a third defeat in four Barclays Premier League matches since the takeover five weeks ago, but Mark Hughes did not feel as if his team had collapsed or were even robbed. He felt more as if they had been run down by a red juggernaut.

It remains to be seen whether Liverpool have the class to become champions for the first time since 1990, but on this and recent evidence they seem to have the resolve. It required a monumental effort to recover from their two-goal half-time deficit, but from the moment Rafael Benítez’s team reappeared after the interval it seemed plausible. Fernando Torres, hitherto anonymous, plundered goals in the 55th and 73rd minutes and then, with both teams reduced to ten men after City had Pablo Zabaleta sent off for a wild challenge and Liverpool lost Martin Skrtel with a twisted knee, Dirk Kuyt pounced in stoppage time to complete a famous fightback.

Liverpool have previous for this, but their most celebrated comebacks of the Benítez era have come in cup competitions. Now, in his fifth season in charge, they appear to be applying the same spirit in the Premier League; of their seven matches this season, this was the third in which they have come from behind to secure victory in the closing stages.

“I’m really pleased with the result, though I’m disappointed for Martin with his injury,” Benítez said afterwards. “The positive thing was the reaction of the players after a bad first half. We made two mistakes for both goals, but the reaction and character we showed in the second half was key to winning the game. It is better for me if we don’t concede those goals, but if you can win, it shows that the players are ready to win every game. Physically we are in good condition, so credit to our fitness coach. We also have great belief and mentality.”

These are the type of attributes that Hughes is trying to instil in a City team high on flair but low on what he called “resoluteness”. It is a young team, with eight of the starting line-up aged between 20 and 24, and at times it shows. Zabaleta was guilty of recklessness in diving in dangerously on Xabi Alonso when he was sent off in the 67th minute, with his team 2-1 up, a naivety evident throughout the City team during the second half.

“We had spoken at half-time about the likely response of Liverpool,” Hughes said. “We needed to be ready for it and we weren’t.”

It had been going so well for City as they took the game to Liverpool. Shaun Wright-Phillips nicked the ball off the ponderous Fabio Aurélio in the nineteenth minute to set the ball rolling, sending in a cross that resulted in Álvaro Arbeloa presenting the ball to Stephen Ireland, who volleyed high into the net for his fourth goal of an impressive campaign. Three minutes before half-time it was 2-0 when Javier Garrido curled a wonderful free kick inside the near post, his first goal in 35 appearances for the club.

Liverpool were struggling, with Torres seemingly frustrated into submission by the persistent attentions of Richard Dunne and Micah Richards. But, as at Goodison Park eight days earlier, Torres came to life in the second half, reducing the arrears in the 55th minute when he bundled home a low cross from Arbeloa and then rose at the near post to head home Steven Gerrard’s corner.With Zabaleta off the pitch, the momentum was with Liverpool, particularly after the introduction of Robbie Keane, but it was the other two substitutes, Andrea Dossena and Yossi Benayoun, who combined to set up Torres, whose shot deflected into the path of Kuyt, six yards out.

The celebrations were of a type usually witnessed in late April, rather than early October, but the euphoria was understandable. After a fightback such as this, you are entitled to celebrate.

Manchester City 4-1-4-1: J Hart 6 - P Zabaleta 5, M Richards 7, R Dunne 8, J Garrido 6 - V Kompany 6 - S Wright-Phillips 7, S Ireland 6, Elano 6, Robinho 6 - Jô 5. Substitutes: G Fernandes, (for Jô, 71min), C Evans (for Robinho, 80), M Petrov (for Elano, 85). Not used: K Schmeichel, T Ben-Haim, D Hamann, D Sturridge.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): J M Reina 5 - Á Arbeloa 4, M Skrtel 6, J Carragher 6, F Aurélio 4 - X Alonso 7, J Mascherano 4, D Kuyt 6, S Gerrard 6 - A Riera 6 F Torres 8. Substitutes: A Dossena (for Aurélio, 71min), R Keane (for Mascherano, 71), Y Benayoun (for Riera, 81). Not used: D Cavalieri, D Agger, Lucas Leiva, R Babel.