SHUT UP, KLOPP

Guardiola hits back at jibe: You’re making excuses, Jurgen

PEP GUARDIOLA has told Jurgen Klopp to belt up and stop making excuses.

In an astonishing attack on his Liverpool rival ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Anfield today, Guardiola has accused Klopp of using tiredness and injuries to paper over the cracks of his faltering bid to retain the title. Guardiola is angered by Klopp’s mistaken claim that tabletopping City are reaping the benefits of a two-week break due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Etihad over Christmas.

And he warned the German that if he continues to moan, their season will be doomed.

Guardiola said: “He [Klopp] is just making excuses. When I

AS a former Liverpool player with big ambitions to become a coach, Dirk Kuyt is a huge admirer of Jurgen Klopp.

But when it comes down to producing beautiful football, even when you have been stripped of your best players, the Dutchman believes Pep Guardiola is in a league of his own.

Kuyt, 40, quit his role in the Feyenoord academy during the week – and would one day love to return to England in a management role.

And while today’s clash between Klopp’s Liverpool and Guardiola’s Manchester City will revive memories of when Kuyt scored a last-minute winner at the Etihad to complete a stunning Reds’ comeback, the former striker is looking to the future.

Kuyt said: “What is so special about Klopp is that first he did it all with Dortmund, a massive club in Germany, and now he has done exactly the same at Liverpool.

“In my eyes he has worked for the two clubs that suit him so much.

“Jurgen is the personification of Dortmund and Liverpool.

“When you mention Klopp’s name, you do so in the same breath as Liverpool Football Club. He is also one of the best performing managers of the last decade.”

Yet Klopp has struggled with the loss of players like Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. And as Liverpool have faltered, Guardiola’s men have stormed to the top of the table with nine successive wins, despite being without record scorer Sergio Aguero and assist king Kevin De Bruyne.

Kuyt said: “Guardiola is a coach who inspires me. He is relatively young, but when I see what he has created at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and again at Manchester City, it is incredible.

“He is an inspiration because of what he is doing despite missing his best players, De Bruyne and Aguero. He is using his creativity to adapt to the situation. “People say Van Dijk is missed so much at Liverpool, but Pep has an ability to change his system so that even the players who are supposed to be unmissable players are not missed.”

Kuyt feels that any result other than a Liverpool win will make it impossible for Klopp to retain the title. A City victory would take the Blues 10 points clear of the champions, having played a game less.

And he says Liverpool will have to produce the same legendary spirit that saw him crown a famous comeback at the Etihad in October 2008.

He recalled: “I remember how well City played in the first half and how we were sitting in the dressing room at half-time losing 2-0.

“But the great thing about Liverpool is this big spirit – the club can climb out of any hole and come back from difficult situations.

“We got back in the game, it was 2-2, and then in the dying seconds I scored the winner.

“If Liverpool want to compete for the title they have to win this game against City. This is do or die. But these are the moments when

Liverpool are at their best.”

ON HIS GUARD Guardiola says City have had issues, but no point in moaning A LOAD OF KLOPPTRAP Klopp says City benefitted from a Covid-enforced break over Christmas

RED AND BURIED Dirk Kuyt scores the winner against City