When Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team meets Manchester City on Saturday, he will be given ample incentive to upset Pep Guardiola. In addition to the fact that both sides have a chance to win the title, Klopp enters the match with a losing track record having never defeated another outstanding manager in an away Premier title game.
The Reds manager has enjoyed an abundance of success against Guardiola, the former manager of Bayern Munich, with whom he also had numerous encounters while leading Borussia Dortmund. With 12 victories in 28 encounters, Klopp has the best record of any head coach who has faced the Spaniard in excess of seven times.
But the German’s worst nightmare occurs during Premier League games at Etihad Stadium. The last time Klopp had won a league match at City was in 2015, not long after his arrival over at Anfield and Manuel Pellegrini was still leading the Sky Blues.
Both eighteen players from that 4-1 the victory have since retired or gone on to new pastures, and seven of them have visited leagues of their own.It’s reasonable to state that Guardiola is clearly the better player in the present matchup, to the point where it calls into question his own claims regarding Klopp. The City manager boldly stated things about his Liverpool proponent last year.
The Barcelona legend claimed, “Jurgen has been my biggest rival as a manager.” “What both teams propose is good for football, because both teams want to try to be themselves.”