Intriguing battle of dugout at Anfield
Old rivalry set to spice up City, Reds tie No big deal for Ronaldo
PEP Guardiola confronts one of the few opposition managers to have regularly outwitted him when Manchester City visit Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Premier League’s stand-out today’s fixture.
Klopp was a thorn in Guardiola’s side during their time as rivals in the Bundesliga, with his Borussia Dortmund team overcoming the Catalan’s Bayern Munich four times in eight meetings.
Liverpool go into today’s game at Anfield a point above City in second place and while Klopp says past encounters will count for little, he is relishing the prospect of resuming hostilities.
“We know everything about how Pep played with Bayern, but that is not important any more because it is different players and different systems,” Klopp said.
“In Holland it was Johan Cruyff and Total Football. He [Guardiola] was very nearly perfect with Barcelona. He had a big influence with Bayern and changed their style completely.
“He is an outstanding manager, 100%. I am not interested too much in giving things a name, but you can see on the pitch he is an influential manager.
“He has a clear idea and a pretty much good idea. He has had a fantastic career until now.
“He had a nice style with Barcelona and was really good with Bayern and now he is at City and he is there to be successful and not to show how good he is.”
Guardiola arrived in Munich in 2013, shortly after Bayern had pipped Klopp’s Dortmund to glory in the Bundesliga and German Cup and beaten them 2-1 in the Champions League final at Wembley.
Bayern swept to the Bundesliga title in Guardiola’s three seasons in Bavaria and Klopp left Dortmund after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 2014-15 campaign.
But the bespectacled former Mainz coach gave Guardiola several bloody noses, beating him in the 2013 German Super Cup and inflicting his first home league defeat with a 3-0 win in April 2014.
Dortmund also beat Bayern in the 2014 Super Cup and eliminated them in the semifinals of the German Cup in 2015.
Having arrived at Liverpool in October 2015, Klopp has had almost a year’s head start on Guardiola in the Premier League.
But while Liverpool appear closer to the finished article than City, who lost back-to-back games against Chelsea and Leicester City earlier this month, there is little between them in the standings.
Both teams are chasing a fourth successive league win and with Chelsea six points clear of Liverpool at the summit, neither Klopp nor Guardiola can afford to lose momentum.
“We’re still in the title race,” says City left-back Gael Clichy. “Seven points is a lot. It’s a big gap and we won’t deny that.
“We’d like to be closer or even on top. But we have seen over the years teams dropping points for fun, teams coming back into the top four after two or three games.
“Chelsea are playing really well, as we were in the first 10 games of the season.
“We all know in football that one morning you’re there and the next day you’re not there anymore, so we have to be ready and take the opportunity when it comes.”
City beat Liverpool on penalties in last season’s League Cup final, but Klopp’s men enjoyed two resounding wins in the league, triumphing 4-1 at Anfield and 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
City, meanwhile, have not won at Anfield in the league since ex-Liverpool loanee Nicolas Anelka’s stoppage-time goal secured a 2-1 victory in May 2003 – a run of 13 matches.
The visitors will be buoyed by the return of top scorer Sergio Aguero, who has missed City’s last four games through suspension.
Klopp has confirmed Liverpool, 4-1 victors against Stoke City on Tuesday, will once again be without centre-back Joel Matip and playmaker Philippe Coutinho due to ankle problems. — AFP WORLD Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has turned down the chance to leave Real Madrid for an unnamed Chinese club for a transfer fee of 300 million euros (about R4.33-billion), his agent said on Thursday.
Speaking to Sky Italia at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, Jorge Mendes said the deal would have been worth 100 million euros (about R1.44-billion) a year to the Portugal striker.
“From China they’ve offered 300 million euros to Real Madrid and more than 100 million per year to the player,” Mendes was quoted as saying.
“But money is not everything. Real Madrid is his life.”
News of the offer made to European champions Real came on the same day Argentine striker Carlos Tevez joined the Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua from Boca Juniors.
No financial details were disclosed but media reports said Shenhua had paid 84 million euros (about R1.21-billion) for former Manchester City and Manchester United forward Tevez.
Last week Brazil midfielder Oscar joined local rivals Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea for a fee that media reports put at 60 million euros (about R865.2-million). — Reuters