Klopp: I’d prefer Pep to take four-year break!

DESPITE their epic rivalry lifting the Premier League to new heights, Jurgen Klopp jokes that he’d enjoy his job at Liverpool far more if Pep Guardiola was nowhere near the Etihad. Guardiola is in the final year of his contract at Manchester City with serious discussions yet to start over an extension.

While Klopp (left) acknowledges the ‘best manager in the world’ has forced Liverpool to raise their own game, he wouldn’t mind the Spaniard disappearing — though his loud guffaw indicates he believes the City boss will end up staying. ‘I would prefer Pep to do a sabbatical for four years. 100 per cent serious,’ said Klopp. ‘Actually, my preferred solution would have been that he had a sabbatical the last four years!

‘I don’t know how often I have to say it but he is the best manager in the world and he is proving that all the time, every day. It is really special what they are doing and I respect that.

‘I wouldn’t miss our rivalry! He has told me when we are not in charge of any club any more, we will sit together and have a glass of wine, even though I am not a big wine drinker.

‘We could do that but if I’m (still) working and he’s off, I would visit him and we (can) have that talk no problem.’

Liverpool have won four major trophies since Klopp arrived in 2015 but their haul would have been far greater had City not clinched four Premier League titles in five seasons under Guardiola — Klopp’s team twice missing out by a single point.

Unlike the other great managerial rivalries including Sir Alex FergusonArsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho-Rafa Benitez, Klopp and Guardiola have always displayed a healthy respect towards each other.

‘I’m a happy person and have no problem with the situation,’ said Klopp.

‘Federer and Nadal competed at the

highest level and are friends. Pep and I are not best friends because we don’t know each other but I respect him a lot, and I know he respects what we are doing. You don’t need to be disrespectful just because you are rivals.

‘Around the games I would say we have a good relationship without meeting. During the games we are both competitors but so far we did really well in cutting out any (bad) stuff.

‘I could always admit brilliance when I saw it, and that is the case with him and City.’

Remarkably, Liverpool have not lost a league game at Anfield in front of fans for more than five years. Their only home defeats during that time were in Covidenforced empty stadiums.

Klopp says the fans can have an impact again today, but only if the players also do their part.

‘Anfield alone wouldn’t have beaten City,’ he said.

‘Yes, the empty stadium didn’t help but the boys are still needed. They were high-intense games against City and we have to make sure it’s the same again.’

City’s only win at Anfield since 2003, a 4-1 victory, came in 2021 when fans weren’t permitted in stadiums.