Since Pep Guardiola took over at City in 2016, the two teams have played 14 league games, with City winning five and Liverpool winning four.
Jurgen Klopp says he will watch Liverpool take on Manchester City “from anywhere on the planet” as he prepares for Saturday’s much-anticipated Premier League summit.
The dominant City have won the title in five of the last six seasons, with Liverpool the only team to break that streak in 2020. Since Pep Guardiola took over at City in 2016, the two sides have played 14 league games, with City winning five and Liverpool winning four.
Guardiola’s treble winners this season face a huge clash at the Etihad Stadium after falling a point behind Liverpool on 28 points from 12 games.”This is not a test of how close we can get to City, it’s just a very exciting game of football,” Liverpool manager Klopp told reporters on Friday.
“I would follow him wherever I was on the planet, because why not? It’s exactly what you need. “But it’s not that kind of excitement for us. We know we have to prepare well for it and do our best to get the opportunity.
“If we have it, it’s up to us to take it.”Klopp was asked if Liverpool v City is the biggest game in the Premier League at the moment, even putting his long-running rivalry with Manchester United to shame.”I don’t know about the competition.
You have to ask other people,” said the German. “From a sporting point of view, for us this is probably one of the most difficult games we’ve played in the last few years, since I’ve been here.”But we need a longer period to compete and the fans will decide.
“It took us a while to compete on the field, football-wise, of course.”Guardiola said at the briefing that the two teams know each other well after years of competition at the top of the league. “Of course time moves on.
Jurgen has been at Liverpool for eight years and of course he is not the same player from the beginning,” he said. “He rebuilt the team, but the ideas were very similar and they were always our best rivals.
“Guardiola was asked if this match was the same as Barcelona v Real Madrid, known as Spain’s Clásico.“I think it’s different. “For 20, 30, 40 years, Manchester City have never been an opponent like Liverpool, but in the last 10 years since I came here we have been the best opponent,” he said.
“I have often said that his teams made me a better manager.”Goalscorer Erling Haaland, who is yet to reach 50 goals since joining the Premier League, is training “a bit hard” to prepare for the game, according to the City manager.
The Norwegian striker scored in last week’s friendly against the Faroe Islands and scored in Sunday’s 3-3 draw with Scotland.
