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Jurgen Klopp has said his decade-long battle with Pep Guardiola is a “not a rivalry” and that the Spanish coach is the “outstanding manager” of his lifetime as he prepares to face the Manchester City man for the final time in a Premier League game as Liverpool boss.
Klopp announced he will stand down as manager at the end of this season in January, almost nine years after taking charge of the club, and a win against City on Sunday would move Liverpool four points clear of the champions at the top of the table and boost the German’s hopes of winning a second Premier League title at Anfield.
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Having arrived at Liverpool in October 2015, Klopp has won seven major trophies including success in the Premier League and Champions League. Since Guardiola joined City in the summer of 2016, he has lifted 14 major trophies, winning every major honour at least once.
Klopp spent two seasons battling against Guardiola in Germany during his spell as Borussia Dortmund coach and Guardiola’s time at Bayern Munich, and he goes into Sunday’s game leading the head-to-head with 12 wins to 11.
But despite his own success as manager with Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp said that Guardiola is a better manager.
“I don’t know how could I judge managers from the past but, in my lifetime, he [Guardiola] is the outstanding manager,” Klopp said on Friday. “We are both pretty competitive, we both want to win football games and we both are blessed with having really good players in our teams and that’s it pretty much. But it’s not a rivalry.
“We definitely, if we meet in the future, will be full of respect. But I think I said often now how much we respect him and we would’ve a lot to talk about definitely.
“So that’s all fine, but on Sunday, it’s not about me having that opportunity last time [to face him] because maybe in the FA Cup or the next round we could meet again, but it’s just, I don’t know who’s playing this weekend in other leagues in the world but it’s probably the game of the weekend.
“I cannot say where he is better than me, but just see how his teams are playing.
“There might be areas where I could be better than [him], I don’t know. I cannot make these different. But the way you look at it, it’s probably a question of taste. There might be people out there that love the way we play over the years more than the way they play. I love it more, for example, otherwise we would play differently.
“But it’s just an easy observation for me from the outside without knowing the details about it.”
Guardiola has dominated domestic leagues with clubs throughout his career since starting out as a coach with Barcelona in 2008-09. He has won countless LaLiga, Bundesliga and Premier League titles and won trebles with Barcelona and City.
At both Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp has had to overcome Guardiola teams to achieve success, but he said that has never frustrated him.
“I was never frustrated,” he said. “I don’t know them, but I knew about 3000 footballers were better than me and I still loved the game and all the others were better than me.
“I have no problem with that. That never bothered me and maybe actually, I have become a better manager to find solution against these teams to win these games.
“In this moment I have just been told I have positive record against Pep — I have no idea about that to be honest.
“But it is all fine. I know I’m quite good at what I’m doing as well. I know I’m not bad, but you ask me about the best and, for me, he’s the best. So that’s it. That’s why I say it.”