Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been named by his rival Jürgen Klopp as the best coach in world football
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has opened up on his admiration for Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
League leaders Liverpool go into a feisty top-of-the-table clash on Sunday, March 10th, with Manchester City just one point behind.
Jürgen Klopp will be hoping that he gets one better of Guardiola in what might be their last meeting together in English football, as Klopp had announced his departure from Liverpool at the end of the season.
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However, while speaking ahead of the tie, Jürgen Klopp stressed that he has nothing but admiration for Guardiola, whom he considers as the best manager in the world.
“Pep is the best manager in the world. I have a really good life being not even close to that,” Klopp said.
“I don’t know how could I judge managers from the past but in my lifetime he’s the outstanding manager. I see excellence when I face it and Pep is definitely that.
“I was never frustrated, I knew round about 3,000 footballers who were better than me and I still loved the game; the others who were better than me, I didn’t know them."
Guardiola made me a better manager - Klopp
Jürgen Klopp gave credit to his opposite number for being the motivation for him to work hard and try to outsmart Guardiola every time they met.
The German tactician is not new to coming up against Pep Guardiola as both coaches clashed in Germany when Guardiola managed Bayern Munich and Klopp held the reins at Borussia Dortmund.
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Both coaches resumed their rivalries in the Premier League when Jürgen Klopp took charge of Liverpool and Pep Guardiola managed Manchester City.
However, Klopp said he doesn’t consider facing Guardiola a rivalry but in contrast, it’s something that has made him a better manager.
“I just got told I have a positive record against Pep… I have no clue how that happened to be honest,” Klopp stated.
“It made me a better manager trying to find solutions. I know I’m quite good at what I’m doing as well, I don’t want to sound like, ‘Oh my God, I’m just happy to be here’, but you ask me about the best: he’s the best. Bam.”
The Liverpool manager said, “I don’t feel it’s a rivalry, but I understand why you call it that.”
“There’s no rivalry. We are both really competitive, we both want to win football games and we are both blessed with really good players in our teams.”
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“If we meet in the future it will be full of respect. We have not had the opportunity to meet each other more often, but we would have a lot to talk about. Definitely.”
“On Sunday it’s not about me having that opportunity (to beat him) for the last time – it’s not sure anyway, maybe in the FA Cup we could meet again. It’s a big game. City games always were, always will be probably.”
Title Decider?
When asked if the Liverpool versus Manchester City game would be the title decider, Klopp said,
“I don’t know who is playing on the weekend in the other leagues but it’s probably the game of the weekend and being able to be part of that is massive.
“Title race decider? I don’t know who thought that up. It’s really early, we could go through all the possible scenarios.
“Whatever the result, I don’t think anybody should open the bottles of champagne.”
Klopp and Guardiola have faced each other 29 times, with the German coming up on tops - winning 12 and losing 11. This explains why many consider Klopp to be Guardiola’s greatest arch-rival.
The Spaniard led City to an historic treble last season, winning the league, UCL, and FA Cup - an achievement Klopp will be hoping to replicate in his last season at Liverpool.