After Liverpool won the Champions League final in 2019, Jürgen Klopp was trying to drink it all down in the depths of the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, just as he would sipping from a bottle of beer. When he entered the dressing room, Liverpool’s head physio, Lee Nobes, handed him a mobile phone. “I looked at the screen and it said ‘Pep’,” Klopp said later. He thought it was his assistant Pep Lijnders. “But when I started talking I realized he was the other Pep,” Klopp said.
That “other Pep” was Pep Guardiola. Nobes was working at Manchester City until last November, and although Klopp did not know who was calling whom, Guardiola wanted to speak to him and convey his congratulations.
Almost five years later and ahead of what is likely to be their final meeting, it remains a remarkable moment as they compete for the Premier League title once again. Imagine Arsene Wenger phoning Sir Alex Ferguson at the height of the rivalry, or Jose Mourinho making that call to Rafael Benitez. Or did Mourinho call Guardiola when they faced each other in Spain?
“Them [Klopp and Guardiola] “They have egos too, but the difference is they respect each other because they know how good the other one is,” a source said. Of course, it may have helped that Guardiola made the decision after winning a home treble, beating Liverpool by a single point on the final day to clinch the Premier League title. Still, he and Klopp joked that they had won the trophy the other wanted most.
But what is even more remarkable is that this is not unusual. According to the source, Guardiola and Klopp now talk “every once in a while” because they “really like each other”. Knowing each other in this way, there is a deep mutual respect between the two greatest managers of their generation and it stems from what drives them both: football. Not the off-field work, not the scoldings, criticisms and petty politics, but the game itself. “Jurgen is making world football a better place,” Guardiola said. “There’s no need to be disrespectful just because you’re a rival,” Klopp said.
Ahead of Sunday’s summit meeting, Klopp added: “I just know the respect is there. We had meetings. Phone calls. Things like that at different moments. He went through a difficult time. I went through a difficult period. Privately. So we made contact there.
“It’s just respect. Why shouldn’t we have a friendship and relationship when we take responsibility for our own clubs? There will be many things we can share when we meet and look back from now on, and that will probably happen. But that will have to happen later, and I don’t know when that will happen.”
They both recognize they are pushing each other – one source said they are “making the other one better” – and will talk about the tactical challenges they have set and the evolution of the game.
It’s an incredible thought: Guardiola calling Klopp, and Klopp calling Guardiola, and it’s even more incredible given the undeniable animosity that developed between the clubs over the years he was in charge. It became a toxic situation in December 2022, when the clubs issued a joint statement following demoralizing scenes in a Carabao Cup fourth-round match at the Etihad Stadium and the attack on the City team bus en route to Anfield for the Champions League quarter-finals. The final of 2018.
This match turned out to be critical and later enlightening. Guardiola made the rare admission in Amazon’s “All or Nothing” series, released later that year. “Liverpool’s forwards are very good. These three are up front. They scare me, they are dangerous. I’m serious,” he said. Liverpool won 5-1 on aggregate, with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino scoring four goals. But it was shocking to hear Guardiola talk like that, and it was clear on the faces of his team.
The managers first took over 11 years ago in 2013, when Guardiola took over Bayern Munich and faced Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund in the season-opening DFL-Super Cup, with Dortmund winning 4-2 (İlkay Gündoğan, Guardiola’s victory. He was among the first strikers to be transferred to City).
Indeed, although Guardiola won the league and cup double that season, finishing 19 points ahead of Dortmund and beating them in the DFB Pokal final, and although his trophy haul in the following decade was far greater than Klopp’s, he has an inferior record. against the German.
They have faced each other 29 times and are currently ahead of Klopp with 11 wins and Guardiola with 10 wins. “Klopp’s style of play suits him very well in stopping the way Guardiola wants Man City to play,” a source said. “The problem with facing Klopp’s teams is that there is so much going on.” Klopp’s approach of course played into Guardiola’s concept of control.
But coming to Germany and meeting Klopp – they had been struggling there for two seasons – was both a relief and a pleasant surprise for Guardiola. Guardiola admitted that he was physically and mentally worn down by the poor competition Mourinho attempted. To provide fuel between Barcelona and Real Madrid and between two coaches in Spain.
“In this room [Mourinho] He is f——boss, f——lord,” an angry Guardiola told a press conference in 2011 as Mourinho tried to use every trick in his playbook to harass him. Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey The two clubs competing in Istanbul met four times within two weeks.
Guardiola added that he plans to concentrate on football. “He can make his personal Champions League win off the pitch,” he added of Mourinho, as Barcelona’s treble victory continued.
“The one with Mourinho [rivalry] “It was bad,” a source said. “Political. It was like a war: Catalonia/Spain, Barça/Madrid, Leo/Cristiano, Pep/Mourinho. There were many things there. It is impossible to compare. But Klopp was his toughest opponent.”
It was refreshing to face someone like Klopp after Guardiola’s sabbatical in New York. “With Mourinho, it was all off the pitch,” the source said. “He never talked about tactics. They normally talk football with Pep and Klopp. “They also have this polite relationship because they respect themselves and each other so much.”
The fascinating thing here is that each manager makes the other better. Never in his career has Guardiola struggled to beat an opponent as much as he has struggled to beat Klopp. And vice versa.
What’s even more fascinating is how each of them overcame this challenge by adapting their own tactics. Guardiola feared Klopp’s front three but the Liverpool manager was even more fearful of his incredible pressing game, “the best in history”. However, Klopp has changed over the years, giving his teams more control, seeking more possession and, most importantly, completely overhauling his midfield last summer. Guardiola, however, has mixed this with a bit more clarity and directiveness, especially since the addition of Erling Haaland. .
They tactically studied and adapted each one. For example, if Guardiola had not done this with Joao Cancelo, would Klopp have pushed Trent Alexander-Arnold from full-back to midfield?
Although it was challenging and exciting, it was also naturally tiring. Perhaps most importantly, for Klopp, who would have left Liverpool with many more trophies in another era. And that must hurt.
They have the four highest point totals in Premier League history among managers. Going back to the 2018-19 season, Klopp’s team collected 97 points, the fourth highest tally ever achieved; but it was still enough for second place behind City with 98 points (the third-highest points in history).
It’s not over; Not yet. Liverpool have already won the Carabao Cup and are competing on all fronts – and could possibly face City in the FA Cup – although of course there are 115 charges against City in the Premier League since 2009. The independent commission is unlikely to award any of City’s seven titles, five of which have been won by Guardiola, but the decision will re-evaluate both managers’ legacies.
Klopp was in no doubt that he always had fewer financial resources with Guardiola, whether in Germany or England; Considering what a good manager the Spaniard is, it reflects incredibly on what he has achieved.
But Klopp, truth be told, is 56, so even though he is three years older and has been at Liverpool for more than nine months, he was the first to blink. Burnout and fatigue is something Guardiola is extremely sympathetic to. With his current contract at City set to expire at the end of next season, it would come as no surprise if he steps aside for another sabbatical. He had already talked about taking a break after City. Interestingly, both managers expressed interest in coaching national teams; Guardiola has admiration for Brazil.
Whatever happens at Anfield on Sunday, don’t expect Klopp or Guardiola to attack each other. If he did that, it would be completely contrary to their relationship and would reveal just how much pressure was on them.
“Even though I’m not a big wine drinker, he told me that when we are no longer in charge of any club, we can sit together and have a glass of wine,” Klopp said. “But we can do this when I’m working and he’s off, I’ll visit him. We can have this conversation, it’s okay.
There was always the expectation that Guardiola would come first. Instead, Klopp and one of the Premier League’s great rivalries, perhaps even the greatest, and the rivalry there with Ferguson and Wenger are about to come to an end.