Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have underlined their respect for one another before Manchester City ’ s stumble to face the league leaders at Anfield, with Guardiola admitting that the Liverpool coach is “ the reason why I am even in this business ”. Guardiola will lock horns with Klopp for the 22nd time on Sunday – meaning entirely José Mourinho will have faced the Catalan on more occasions. Having lost 4-2 to Klopp ’ s Borussia Dortmund in their first find back in June 2013 in the german Super Cup final while at Bayern Munich, Guardiola has an identical record to his rival with nine victories, nine defeats and three draws. Although Klopp has not seen his Liverpool english beat City since the 3-1 victory at Anfield in November 2019 on their way to a first league claim for 30 years, Guardiola credited the german ’ south influence on his own development.

“ He helped me, his team helped me to be a better coach, ” he said. “ He gave me another level to think about it, prove myself, what I have to do to be a better coach with our teams to try and beat them. It ’ s the rationality why I ’ m still in this business. “ There are some managers, Jürgen is one, to challenge you to move a step forth … here we have many years, many competitions together. every game was decent, both teams have the same mind, go to score goals in unlike ways ; quicker than us, but in the same way to win the games. ” Klopp was flying to return the compliment, although he was diffident whether he had ever informed his City counterpart of his real feelings given the acute competition of their teams in holocene campaigns. “ [ I am ] not sure if I ever told Pep but I like him ! It ’ south true, ” he said. “ From time to time I annoy him with things I say in weigh conferences that are not meant to say anything bad about him or Man City but then person on the City staff tells him that ‘ Klopp said this or that ’ and I can see in his press conference that he gets in truth angry. Sorry for that !Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola joke about trophy success: 'Maybe we can swap?' – video

01:41 Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola joke about trophy success : ‘Maybe we can swap ? ‘ – video recording “ It ’ s truly one of the biggest challenges for all managers in football to face his teams because they are good. If you make a mistake you get punished and that is pretty much the game against Man City always. So you had better not make a draw of mistakes because differently you will get a bump. But if you don ’ thyroxine [ make mistakes ] – at least if you are Liverpool – then you have a chance and I actually think it is interesting to give it a try. ” Two goals from Ilkay Gündogan in a beat 4-1 victory ended City ’ s 18-year wait for a acquire at Anfield last season, although the Germany midfielder and Oleksandr Zinchenko remain sideline and are expected binding after the external fail. Liverpool have conceded only once at home in the league, in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, but Guardiola does not expect his players to be intimidated by the presence of supporters this time.

The fiver : sign up and get our daily football e-mail. “ I am sure the players enjoy more to play with fans in Anfield than without, ” he said. “ We didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate win at Anfield, I don ’ t know the reasons, the death four, five years [ before last year ] because it ’ s an exceptional team. The herd helps, like in Paris, but it happens in large stadiums : in Germany at Dortmund, or Atlético Madrid. It happens, not a draw for determent but the quality of the adversary. We do our game with or without spectators. ”