City hold no fear for Reds

– Juergen Klopp (above) has no qualms about saluting Pep Guardiola’s ability to create “extraordinary” teams, but the Liverpool boss is convinced he can bridge the class divide when Manchester City visit Anfield for their Champions League showdown.

Having first gone head-to-head with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the friendly rivalry between Klopp and Guardiola has its biggest stage yet as Liverpool face City in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg tonight.

There is strong mutual admiration between the two, with Klopp unstinting in his praise for Guardiola’s ability to get his players to give life to his purist principles.

“His teams are always excellently positioned. He always has great teams which make excellent decisions,” Klopp told UEFA.com recently.

“At Barcelona it was Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Messi and so on.

“At Bayern Munich he had fantastic players who made a lot of great decisions. Now, with Gundogan, Silva, Aguero, Sane on the left wing, Sterling on the wing, Gabriel Jesus, they’re extraordinary.

“Positioning is important, but this is not witchcraft, it is not unusual just because the wingbacks come inside.

“But when the players are in position they move every millisecond in order to be available, and when they are, that’s when the individual quality of the player becomes important.”

Likewise, Guardiola is an admirer of Klopp’s commitment to entertainment, the Spaniard last season hailing his counterpart as “the best manager in the world for fans because he creates teams to attack the back four”. – AFP