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Jurgen Klopp names best manager in the world ahead of Man City showdown
Jurgen Klopp has lauded Pep Guardiola as the premier manager on the field as the two prepare to face off in the Premier League for one last showdown. Klopp, acknowledging Guardiola’s unmatched prowess, expressed his admiration for the Spaniard ahead of their final encounter in English football’s top tier.
With Klopp set to depart from his role as Liverpool manager at the end of the season and vowing not to lead another English club, this marks the conclusion of a storied rivalry between the two managers. Their rivalry has been pivotal in shaping English football in recent years, with both Klopp and Guardiola asserting dominance.
Ahead of Liverpool’s pivotal clash with Manchester City on Sunday, Klopp openly expressed his profound respect for Guardiola and credited the City boss for elevating his own career to new heights.
“The way he influenced football, easy as that,” Klopp revealed as the thing he admires most about Guardiola.” Then, winning the amount of trophies he won in his career but you feel like when you see him on the touchline, he behaves like he never won anything before, like the desire he has. That’s absolutely outstanding. He’s outstanding in so many aspects.
“I do the job myself so I see excellence when I face it, and Pep is definitely that. So many different things over the years he did with his teams, always possession-based obviously, but even if necessary he plays long balls. Like, brings Ederson in years ago and all of a sudden [Sergio] Aguero waits 20 yards in the other half and he fires the ball there and then you think, ‘OK, that’s difficult to defend now’, the next challenge. So many different things he did over the years.
“I don’t know, how can I judge managers from the past? But in my lifetime he is the outstanding manager, definitely.”
Klopp continued: “I was never frustrated towards Pep. I don’t know them but I knew around 3,000 footballers were better than me and still loved the game. And all the others were better than me I didn’t know. So, I have no problem with that, absolutely not.
“That never frustrated me. It made me definitely a better manager, to find solutions against these teams to win these games. In this moment, I just got told now, I have a positive record against Pep. I have no clue how that happened, to be honest! But it is all fine. I know I’m quite good at what I’m doing as well, I don’t want to sound like somebody who is happy to be here and I can’t face these kind of [managers]. I know I’m not bad.
“But you ask about the best and for me, he is the best, bam. That’s why I say it, nothing to do with me. We face [each other] twice or three times or four times a year, that’s it. All the other time I do the job without facing Pep Guardiola, which is quite good, to be honest! It’s all fine.”
Liverpool leads City by one point going into the match, and both teams will be closely watching Saturday’s match between Brentford and other title contenders Arsenal.