Jurgen Klopp showered praise on Pep Guardiola and called him “the best manager in the world” ahead of what could be the pair’s final meeting when Liverpool host Manchester City this weekend in a top-of-the-table clash at Anfield.
The two managers have shared many memorable battles over the past decade, initially in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, and then at the summit of English football.
With Klopp leaving his post as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, Sunday’s game will be the last league meeting between them — although they could face each other in the latter stages of the FA Cup.
Liverpool currently hold a slender one-point lead at the top of the Premier League and Klopp boasts a marginally superior head-to-head record in their 29 contests together, with 12 victories compared to Guardiola’s 11. Nevertheless, the German said he believes his rival is the greatest coach of his generation.
“Pep is the best manager in the world. I have a really good life not being 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 around 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.
“I just got told that I have a positive record against Pep and I have no clue how that happened. 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.”
The respectful relationship between Klopp and Guardiola has been a notable feature during a time when the rivalry between Liverpool and City has intensified.
The two clubs have shared the last six league titles (five for City, one for Liverpool) and have also met in key Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup matches. Such duelling has brought the best out of both managers and has seen them raise their games for each other.
“I don’t feel it’s a rivalry, but I understand why you call it that,” Klopp added. “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.
“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.”
'This is not a decider... but it's still huge'
The Liverpool manager, whose team remain in contention for four trophies this season having already claimed the Carabao Cup, said he did not believe this weekend’s game is a title decider, with 10 more matches still to play and Arsenal also firmly in the hunt.
However, even if this is not a decider, Klopp could not hide that it could be defining for the final run-in. “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,” he said.
“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.”
Liverpool are set to be without Ibrahima Konate after the centre-back came off injured in the second-half of Thursday’s 5-1 Europa League win at Sparta Prague, meaning Jarell Quansah could start alongside Virgil van Dijk. Klopp also confirmed that Mohamed Salah is available to start.