Pep Guardiola declared himself 'delighted' as his Manchester City side thrashed newly-crowned champions Liverpool 4-0 on Thursday and dismissed suggestions Liverpool had overdone their celebrations.
City gave a reminder of their quality on what proved a sobering night for Liverpool, who were given a guard of honour by their hosts in their first match since securing the Premier League title last week.
Kevin De Bruyne began the rout with a penalty before further strikes from Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden and an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal.
Man City are now even-money favourites to win back the Premier League title next season.
Guardiola said: “I’m delighted. Congratulations to the team, we beat the champions with the quality they have.
“I saw in the guard of honour how incredibly focused they were, how they shouted. I saw in their faces the focus, that’s why they’re champions.
“They didn’t come here to celebrate. They’d drunk enough beers earlier in the week and they came here to compete.
The City boss felt his side needed to be at their best to sharpen up for their continuing challenges in the FA Cup and Champions League, while also setting a marker for next season.
“To beat them 4-0 makes me delighted, it was so important for preparing against Arsenal and Real Madrid. It tells us that we can beat anyone.
'Next season will be completely different. It starts at zero points for everyone and we have to show, to Liverpool but to ourselves that we can do it again.
"To show what we have done over previous years and that's win a lot of titles."
Sterling was also highly influential against his former club, winning the penalty for De Bruyne’s goal and then adding City’s second. He thought he had also claimed the fourth only for the final touch to come off Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Sterling felt it was important to send a message to the side that had taken their crown.
“They have been brilliant all year and we knew we had to come out strong. We started really well and all credit to the boys,” he told Sky Sports.
“We knew we were behind, we were disappointed at times this season having lost some games we shouldn’t have so we had a test against the new champions and (a chance) to make a point.
“Next season starts today and I think we did well.”