The Sunday Times April 10, 2022 9Klopp v Guardiola began at Signal
Iduna Park in July 2013, a match that
ended with Klopp, wearing goofy grin
and black and yellow tracksuit, being
showered with golden ticker tape
after his Borussia Dortmund blitzed
Guardiola’s Bayern Munich 4-2 in the
German Super Cup final. It continued
with Guardiola out-thinking Klopp in
a 3-0 Bayern victory at the same sta-
dium and became an epic of the Bun-
desliga before Klopp departed Dort-
mund in 2015. Their record was
played eight with four wins apiece.
Their first meeting in England was
forgettable, a dour game at Anfield on
New Year’s Eve, 2016, which featured
just three shots on target and one goal
— scored early by Georginio Wijnal-
dum. Yet Klopp celebrated Liver-
pool’s 1-0 victory raucously, pumping
his chest in mock relief in front of sup-
porters. Guardiola was disconsolate —
the defeat effectively ended any hope
of a title in his first season with City.
Their next match was amicable, a
1-1 draw at the Etihad, when Klopp
grabbed Kevin De Bruyne and bear-
hugged him in the tunnel. It wasn’t
until the next season, 2017-18, that the
pair began producing an epic narra-
tive with their English clubs. Klopp
was “really angry” after losing 5-0 at
the Etihad because of the refereeing
( Jon Moss sent off Sadio Mané) and at
Anfield came a classic match, awash
with breakneck attacking, where Liv-
erpool went 4-1 up but City nearly
came back to draw — scoring twice
late on, then Sergio Agüero going ago-
nisingly close in the final moments of
stoppage time with a header.
Then came the clubs’ clash in a
tumultuous Champions League quar-
ter-final. Guardiola “took a very long
time” to get over City’s bus being
attacked by Liverpool fans before the
first leg at Anfield, which his team lost
3-0. Klopp was getting much of the
media praise, even though Guardiola
was on the brink of his first Premier
League title, and in his team talk
before the second leg a little bruising
to the ego was revealed.
Guardiola told City players, “Jür-
gen Klopp said today — maybe I can-
not convince you, maybe he can con-
vince you — ‘We [Liverpool] are going
to play the best team in Europe during
the last ten months,’” before conclud-
ing, with a note of sarcasm. “It was a
real pleasure to be with Jürgen, guys.”
Liverpool won the second leg too
and the low point in the Pep-Klopp
dynamic came in the months that fol-
lowed. In pre-season, after Liverpool
beat City in the International Champi-
ons Cup in New York, Klopp walked in
on Guardiola’s press conference and
fans began cheering as Guardiola was
still talking. Guardiola cut his address
short, leapt up and invited Klopp to
take centre stage instead. They were
all smiles but those in the room
remember the moment as being
deeply awkward.
Then, before the new season
started, Klopp made a remark that
irked his nemesis, saying, “We’re still
Rocky Balboa, not Ivan Drago” —
Drago being a pitiless, robotic and
unfairly advantaged fighter who the
underdog hero takes on in the Rocky
films. Guardiola’s riposte was sar-
donic. “I’ve had that situation for nine
years, it’s not a problem. Thank you
Jürgen, you’re so kind.”
However, someone who knows
Guardiola well suggests any annoy-
ance was not with Klopp but the
Favourites City/Underdogs Liverpool
narrative. “It’s never personal for Pep
with managers, even Mourinho,” he
said. “It’s not how he’s wired.”
Klopp is said to see the world simi-
larly and it was over the season that
followed, the incredible campaign of
2018-19, that appreciation of each
other seemed to overwhelm any other
feelings. City were domestic treble
winners, taking the Premier League
title with 98 points while Liverpool
were just one point back and won the
Champions League.
After the final in Madrid’s Wanda
Metropolitano, when he went back to
Liverpool’s dressing room to grab a
beer and celebrate, Klopp was
stopped at the door by Liverpool’s
head physio, Lee Nobes, who handedhim a phone. The name on the screen
said “Pep”. Klopp thought it was his
No 2, Pep Lijnders, but Nobes joined
Liverpool from City, where he worked
for 11 years, and the caller was Guardi-
ola. “We talked about what a great sea-
son it was, we had a few jokes. We
were both obviously in a good mood,”
said Klopp.
There was graciousness, respect
and happiness in the two men’s big
embrace at the end of their 2-2 draw at
Anfield in October. There was also evi-
dence, in that coruscating game, of
how the pair have pushed the bound-
aries of brilliance and entertainment
in football to new levels. Fergie v
Wenger had a deliciously dark, block-
buster plot but didn’t necessarily rep-
resent the best the game had to offer —
whereas Pep v Klopp, indubitably the
two best coaches in the world, with
the two best teams in the world,
surely does.
The legendary Italian manager
Arrigo Sacchi, perhaps the true godfa-
ther of pressing, has long been a
touchstone of Klopp’s but it is
intriguing that in 2019-20, when City
slumped, Guardiola phoned Sacchi
for advice. Sacchi told him to press
higher up the pitch and City’s form
returned — another vignette to dem-
onstrate how Guardiola and Klopp
have grown together in playing ideas.
You look at Liverpool with their pos-
session game, sweeper-keeper, Trent
Alexander-Arnold in midfield, Thiago
Alcântara controlling, and see a lot of
Pep — who Klopp’s influential No 2,
Lijnders, openly cites as his inspira-
tion. “Klopp has evolved by delving
into positional play. That has allowed
us to see a dominant team without
losing the ferocity that Klopp’s teams
have,” said the former Liverpool mid-
fielder, Javier Mascherano.
Recently, Andy Forrester, of the
analysis platform, AI Abacus, posted
an extraordinary graphic on Twitter.
It was about ballboys. A chart
revealed the average time ballboys at
every Premier League club take to get
the ball back in play and showed that
at nearly every club it depends on the
game situation. Two clubs, though,
were absolute outliers — there, no
matter the game situation, the ball-
boys act fast. Those sides just want the
ball back on the pitch, and to play.
Liverpool and City, of course.
Klopp and Guardiola freely acknowl-
edge that without the way they push
each other, their sides wouldn’t break
the records, play the football or per-
haps even train with the intensity they
do. Today, at the Etihad, Pep’s com-
ing, Jürgen’s coming, the league’s on
the line, and let’s enjoy the crazy bril-
liance, the golden age. Amid the
packed schedule, said Klopp on Fri-
day, “It is not easy always to really feel
the job... but I don’t need to remind
myself, today even the weather is
great, I woke up this morning and,
laptop, have a look, see City playing
against us, in their home game, very
interesting.
“Pep is the best coach in the world,
but I always wanted to be the coach of
the team who can beat the best team
in the world and actually I achieved
that, as well, somehow and now we
have to make sure Sunday is the day.
So let’s give it a try.”MUTUAL LEARNING
Borus s ia Dortmund LiverpoolKlopp's teams have steadily increased
their share of possession in the league
to get close to the level enjoyed
by Guardiola teamsGuardiola's City have gradually
developed a higher pressing style,
increasing the average number of high
turnovers they win per league game - an
Opta statistic that counts the number of
sequences of play that start in open play
and begin 40m or less from the
opponent's goalAverage possession in the league2 008-09High turnovers per game for Man City
2016-172017-182018-192019-202020-212021-222009-102010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-172017-182018-192019-202020-212021-227.78.78.89.89.99.550.12%49.39%52.62%55.16%56.11%53.73%55.27%58.25%62.04%60.77%62.17%63.48%62.4%62.52%MC LIV
Sept 20175-0
LIV MC
Jan 20184-3
*MC LIV
Aug 2019
Community
Shield1-1
LIV MC
Nov 20193-1
MC LIV
July 20204-0
MC LIV
Nov 20201-1
LIV MC
Feb 20211-4
Premier LeagueLIV MC
Oct 2021Premier LeagueLIVMC
Oct 20180-0
MC LIV
Jan 20192-1
Premier LeagueLIV MC
Apr 20183-0
MC LIV
Apr 20181-2
Champions LeagueLI
OcV
8C
12-2
22 Played
9 Klopp
9 Guardiola
4 Draws* Won on pens