Manchester City Deny Liverpool Chant Relates to Sean Cox or Hillsborough

Manchester City have denied accusations that a chant sung by their players about Liverpool fans being "battered in the streets" and "victims of it all" relates to Sean Cox or the Hillsborough disaster.

Per Sky Sports, in a statement City said the chant, sung to the tune of the Reds fans' "Allez, Allez, Allez" song, has been sung throughout the season and referred to the 2018 UEFA Champions League final, which Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine.

The statement added: "Any suggestion that the lyrics relate to Sean Cox or the Hillsborough tragedy is entirely without foundation."

City players were filmed singing the song after sealing the Premier League title at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, which earned them the trophy ahead of the Reds by one point.

The song includes references to City captain Vincent Kompany, forward Raheem Sterling and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (warning: contains profanity):

Per James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo, the lyrics are: "All the way to Kiev, to end up in defeat, crying in the stands and battered on the streets, Kompany injured Salah, victims of it all, Sterling won the double, the Scousers won f--k all."

Pearce condemned the chant, and colleague Ian Doyle found it difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt:

Football writer Leanne Prescott felt City's statement on the matter was severely lacking:

Cox was left in a six-week coma after being assaulted by a Roma supporter outside Anfield ahead of last year's UEFA Champions League semi-final. Per the Echo's Kate McMullin, Cox has been left unable to walk or speak as a result of the attack.

Ahead of the Champions League final, a group of Liverpool fans were attacked at a restaurant in Kiev.

A crush in the stands at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium during the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest resulted in the deaths of 96 people.

In 2016, a two-year inquest into the disaster found the supporters were unlawfully killed due to negligence on behalf of the police and ambulance services.