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Jurgen Klopp has backed Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s right to say Liverpool’s success in recent years “means more” than that enjoyed by Manchester City, but said that everyone at Anfield respects their rivals at the Etihad and that Pep Guardiola is the “best manager in the world.”
Premier League leaders Liverpool go into Sunday’s clash with champions City a point clear of Guardiola’s side, and the pre-match build-up has been enlivened by City’s Erling Haaland and Rúben Dias hitting back at Alexander-Arnold’s claims that Liverpool’s success under Klopp carries more weight because of “the manner in which we’ve done it…against a machine that’s built to win.”
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Haaland rejected Alexander-Arnold’s comments by saying the Liverpool defender doesn’t know the “feeling” of winning a treble, as City did by lifting the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies last season.
But ahead of the biggest game of the season so far, Klopp said he has no issues with Alexander-Arnold expressing his opinion.
“He [Alexander-Arnold] was born in Liverpool and stood on the bins [to watch training], he played through all the youth teams, so what would you think?” Klopp said at his pre-match news conference on Friday.
“One of our slogans at the club is ‘This Means More’ and I love that. What happens here means more to us.
“The club is special to us. If it isn’t special to other people then we can’t change that. If we feel it like that then why can’t we be allowed to say it? It’s just how Trent feels and I have no problem with that.”
Despite Alexander-Arnold questioning the value of City’s successes under Guardiola in recent years — City have won 14 trophies under Guardiola compared to Liverpool’s seven under Klopp — the Liverpool manager said nobody can deny that City have been a formidable opponent and that they command full respect at Anfield.
“I’m not sure how often in this club that you say how much you respect the opponent and mean it,” Klopp said. “Pep is the best manager in the world, I have no problem saying [that and I am] having a really good life not even being close to that.
“They have incredible players in this moment, probably the best number nine in the world right now, Kevin De Bruyne will go down in history as one of the best players and Phil Foden is one of the top English players right now. We respect all that.
“In the last decade, Man City is the most successful football club in England definitely and maybe in Europe.”
A win for either side on Sunday would establish the victors as title favourites, with Arsenal also challenging to emerge as champions this season.
But Klopp said that nobody should be celebrating the title if they emerge with three points this weekend.
“Big games always [against City] and they will probably always be,” Klopp said. “Somebody said it will be a title-race decider, but if we go through all the different possible scenarios then I don’t think anybody should open the bottles of champagne after the game, no matter what the result.
“Nothing will be done, but it’s three points. They are a massive, incredible, strong opponent, so we don’t hide that. We want to win that game knowing how difficult is.”