I always wanted to be the coach of the team who can beat the best side in the world

JURGEN KLOPP is happy to play second fiddle to Pep Guardiola as the world’s No.1 coach – after revealing he always dreamed of being the manager who could beat the best.

As he heads to the Etihad for today’s crunch title clash, Klopp insists his stars must seize the moment to give Liverpool a decisive advantage in the title race.

The German has lavished praise on Manchester City and their boss Guardiola – saying he has no envy about his rival’s status as football’s coaching God.

“All I say about City I really mean, they are great” says Klopp. “Pep is the best coach in the world, and I’ve no problem with that. But I always wanted to be the coach of the team who can beat the best team in the world.

“And actually I achieved that as well somehow, and now we have to do it again on Sunday. There is a little bit of work to do, but let’s give it a try.

“We have won all our Champions League away games in this campaign so far which is like, ‘Wow, how can that happen?’ It’s not easy always to really feel the joy but we should remind ourselves from time to time.

“It’s in these moments against City that I really appreciate my job, it is exactly what I want to do.

“There is a job to do and they are a handful. But we are as well and that is what is constantly on my mind.”

Klopp has never masterminded a

Liverpool league win at City in his time facing Guardiola in England. Now would be a good time to break that duck.

But if Liverpool don’t wrestle the title off City this season Klopp will still be proud of the way his stars clawed back a gap against the champions that stood at 14 points earlier this season.

“If we hadn’t tried I would be disappointed” says Klopp. “Not winning the league will be disappointing but there are other things to go for, the other cup competitions, so you need momentum and you need rhythm.

Possible

“If the gap is too big then close it – to one point. That was not just about us, we just won the games but City didn’t win all their games and it was that which made the gap smaller.

“That is what I expected from us. I don’t expect us to win all the games, but to try constantly and that’s what we did.

“We knew it was 14 points but we didn’t care. We just had to win as many points as possible until the end of the season. That situation doesn’t change.”

Whatever the future holds, Klopp hopes one day he and Guardiola can uncork the wine and dissect their special rivalry over a long chat. “When we finish our careers we might meet somewhere and sit together for hours, hours and hours and just speak,” he added.

“It would be interesting, no doubt about that. But I really think, as a club, Liverpool should enjoy the ride because it is so special.”