The work is still in progress. The same goes for cities. Klopp, who is worth £500m according to Transfermarkt, has come a lot closer to a finished product since arriving on these German shores despite being fresh from a move by Pep Guardiola at the start of the season. The two coaches played in the Bundesliga for three years with Klopp at Dortmund and Guardiola at Bayern Munich. The latter improved and went on to win back-to-back titles. Now is the time for them to conquer English football.
Their first meeting was scheduled to take place under the lights of Anfield on 31 December 2016 to close the year.The starting line-up for the Reds is: Simon Mignolet; Nathaniel Klein, Dejan Lovren, Ragnar Klavan, James Milner; Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can; Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana. The visitors were treated to a star-studded line-up including: Claudio Bravo; Pablo Zabaleta, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Alexander Kolarov; Yaya Toure, Fernandinho; Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva; Sergio Aguero. In the end, it can be summed up as far from a preview of the battle to come. According to our extensive database, Wijnaldum’s eighth minute header was the difference in a 1-0 home win with no shots on target between the two players. There is video evidence to refute that after Lallana’s perfect cross, the Dutchman’s thunderous drive into the bottom corner of Bravo’s net without the aid of a post or deflection. It also provided the first hints of Guardiola’s interest in Liverpool.
After his team lost, a Daily Mail report from the day said: “But the mask slipped off the microphone. An hour after the final whistle, Pep Guardiola stood outside the City dressing room and had an in-depth conversation with City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, to understand how he felt. He paced back and forth and loosened his tie. He waved his hand and clenched his fist. He spread his arms and his eyes lit up as he tried to understand why the city was so gentle. Begiristan could only hear Guardiola’s anger welling up as he put his hands to his head.Yaya Toure, a long-time enemy of the Reds since moving to the Etihad Stadium six years ago, acknowledged his manager’s anger at half-time.”If you lose Liverpool are a good team and if you lose like that it’s not fun at half-time,” said the Ivorian. “It was disappointing and we all felt it. Of course he was angry.
This is a manager who gets angry easily.”Sometimes we have to step up and act. We knew Liverpool would wait if we lost the ball and they did that to score. “So he was upset about everything that happened.”These moments may have been lost among other famous moments that left the Spaniard fuming at Anfield. Michael Oliver would have been better off waving and shouting ‘twice’ to the smiling crowd as he motioned for two separate penalties before shaking the referee’s hand and saying ‘thank you very much’ to full time in November 2019.
Seven years ago, Liverpool dealt Manchester City the first real blow in a modern rivalry that has taken the Premier League to new heights. In his first full season on Merseyside, Jurgen Klopp’s side are still far from title contenders. Yes, they reached the League Cup and Europa League finals a year ago, brought in Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Joel Matip in the transfer window and built a new main stand at Anfield.
