Pep simply the best for Reds gaffer
JURGEN KLOPP thinks it is a joke that Pep Guardiola could even contemplate leaving Manchester City.
The Liverpool boss has hailed his biggest rival as the best manager in the world ahead of the champions’ visit to Anfield – and insists he is genuinely stunned that Guardiola’s contract at the Etihad has just nine months to run.
Klopp admits he would be happy for the Catalan to take a four-year holiday at the end of the season and joked the only better scenario would have been for Guardiola to have spent the last four years away from the Prem.
Asked if he would like the rivalry to continue next season and beyond, Klopp said: “No, I would prefer Pep is doing a sabbatical for four years – 100 percent!
“Actually, my preferred solution was that he’d had a sabbatical for the last four years! Honestly, it is a joke.
“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 every day.
“It’s special what City are doing, really special. And I respect that, but that’s it.”
City have won four of the last five top flight titles, with only Liverpool’s triumph in 2020 preventing the Blues from making it a nap hand.
But Klopp has also lifted the Champions League – the only trophy that has been beyond Guardiola during his Manchester reign.
Klopp said: “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 as well.”
Klopp added: “I could always admit brilliance when I saw it and in this case, that is the case.
“They’ve won an awful lot, and were also unlucky in moments not to go through in the Champions League. That’s how life can be.
“From a sports point of view, I couldn’t respect what they do any more and that’s the 100 percent truth.
“What Pep is doing is outstanding. The way he plays, the ego he shows. He will never stop.
“He wants to win desperately, each game is the most important.”
Yet despite winning six titles over the last decade, City have won just once at Anfield since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008 – two seasons ago when City prevailed 4-1 in an empty stadium.
Klopp said: “It is a mixture of Anfield and the team. Anfield alone wouldn’t have done it, and the empty stadium didn’t help, but just the crowd wouldn’t help as well. The boys are needed. They are high, high, high intense games and we have to make sure it will be a high intense game again.”