The rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City managers, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola has seen some blockbuster matches in the Premier League.
Klopp’s decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season will deprive the Premier League of any more games between two of the finest coaches of the modern era.
Sunday’s game between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield will be the 30th meeting between the two managers and the 16th in the Premier League.
The first in the competition came back on New Year’s Eve in 2016, over a year after Klopp arrived in England and midway through Guardiola’s maiden campaign with City.
The stage was set nicely, with the head-to-head record between the two locked at 4-4 after their meetings in Germany with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
In the event, the match didn’t live up to its billing, with just three shots coming in a narrow 1-0 win for Liverpool at Anfield.
The result, courtesy of Gini Wijnaldum’s early header, ensured Liverpool remained in the title race with Chelsea and dented City’s own hopes, leaving them 10 points adrift of Antonio Conte’s eventual champions.
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It also prompted one of Klopp’s trademark post-match interviews in which he passionately pushed back at the media narrative around his side.
After 19 games, Liverpool sat second in the Premier League with a positive goal difference of 25, yet criticism had continued to come over their defence.
The back four who kept a clean sheet that day against City’s attack which featured Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and David Silva was Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren, Ragnar Klavan and James Milner, with Simon Mignolet in goal.
They got the job done without much fuss, prompting BBC interviewer Guy Mowbray to ask Klopp whether it was his side’s best defensive side of the season.
Although perfectly polite, Klopp took the opportunity to fire back at his critics.
“Look, I know everybody talks about our defence. And for me, defence is something different – not [about] avoiding goals,” he said.
“Of course, that’s the end product, but it’s about how you work together. And I think in the whole league, we’ve conceded the smallest number of shots on our goal.
“Sometimes it happens, of course, because we are still in development. Last year, we wanted to be the most tricky to play opponent and this year we’ve made the next step to [becoming] a possession team. You cannot have everything. Tonight, from a concentration level, outstanding, but we already defended better, clearer in some of the situations.
“It was good, but the criticism of our defence – I don’t care, actually. But it makes no sense, because you always pick out the goals and say ‘Well, that’s not good and that’s not good’. That’s how goals are by the way! But I am happy with the result – 1-0 – and of course we are happy about the clean sheet, that is clear.”
For his part, Guardiola praised Liverpool for using “the counter-attack like a master”. City drew the next meeting 1-1 later that season before smashing Liverpool 5-0 the following season at the Etihad Stadium after a first-half red card for Sadio Mane.
These were the early days of a budding rivalry between the two coaches which is perfectly poised for Sunday’s game: Klopp has faced Guardiola 29 times with Dortmund and Liverpool, winning 12, drawing six and losing 11.
