provided Klopp with a stable environ-
ment in which he has been able to
showcase fully his coaching acumen,
rather than fretting about losing his
best players (Mario Götze and Robert
Lewandowski, for example, would
move to Bayern).
And while there is a part of Klopp
that will always like the story of the
underdog, he knows Liverpool now
possess a ferocious bite.
“Equal? I’m not sure,” he said. “The
main difference between Dortmund-
Bayern and Liverpool-City is that at
Dortmund we lost important players
every year. Bayern never.
“If you played an outstanding season
at Dortmund, there were a lot of clubs
who could be interested and very often
it was Bayern themselves. That’s the
difference in the situation, clearly.
“We [Liverpool] are much more equal
[with City] at least than we [Dortmund]
were with Bayern. That’s definitely theClosest of rivals
Over the past four seasons, City and
Liverpool's Premier League points
totals are only a point apart
Total points since 2018/19 (144 games)
Manchester City
338
Liverpool
3372018/19 (38 games)
98
972019/20 (38 games)
81
992020/21 (38 games)
86
692021/22 (30 games)
73
72Jürgen Klopp listened intently as the
statistics were read out. The number of
Premier League games played by
Liverpool since August 2018, followed
by the number of wins, draws and losses,
with the pattern then repeated for
Manchester City.
It took a while to get to the point. And
yet, in the end, there it was, the only
thing that separates these protagonists:
Liverpool have amassed 337 to City’s
338 over that sample size, and, boiling it
down to this season, it is 72 versus 73.
Fine margins define their relationship.
“I’m surprised about the numbers,”
the Liverpool manager said. “They
wouldn’t have the points they have if we
weren’t there and the same if the other
way around.
“Man City is considered the best
football team in the world, I think they
are as well, and they got one point more
than us. What does that say? Exactly.”
It was an example of mind games, but
not as we have come to know it. Instead
of undermining the opposition, the
chance was taken to build City up in the
knowledge that Liverpool’s players
could, in the process, receive a boost of
their own.
As the rivalry prepares to play out at
The Etihad tomorrow, Klopp likened it
to that seen on the grand-slam courts
between Roger Federer and Rafael
Nadal, before conceding that four years
ago he was not convinced the gap could
be closed. Perhaps such reticence was
born out of experience.
In the two seasons Klopp and Pep
Guardiola had been pitched together as
opponents in the Bundesliga, with
Borussia Dortmund and Bayern
Munich respectively, the points differ-
ential stood at 42. Guardiola won the
title each time and was untouchable.
However, the weight of history left
those battles lopsided. Liverpool have
Interestingly Bayern returned to
more recognisable Guardiola tactics in
the second half as the Catalan brought
on Mario Götze and Thiago Alcântara.
Their speed was too much for a tiring
Dortmund side and Bayern ran out
3-0 winners.Klopp’s pressing silences Allianz Arena
Bayern 0 Dortmund 3, April 12, 2014The German was thirsting for revenge
in the next encounter (Constantin
Eckner writes). Bayern may have sewn
up the Bundesliga title by this point but
both teams were motivated to win the
prestigious Klassiker.
Klopp returned to his old ways by
drawing up a sophisticated pressing
strategy to disrupt Bayern’s build-up
play. He used Jonas Hofmann to man-
mark the left back David Alaba, whowas crucial to Bayern’s possession
game. With Alaba being neutralised,
the two centre backs, Dante and
Martínez, were exposed to pressing
attacks, as they were denied quick
passing options. After winning
turnovers, Dortmund’s midfielders set
Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang running towards the
penalty area and let them engage in
two-v-two duels.
Dortmund stifled Bayern’s creativity
and forced them to play a high number
of crosses. Guardiola was unable to find
a response quick enough as his team
fell three goals behind after an hour.Their Bundesliga encounters set the
stage for what would follow in England
Liverpool 3 Man City 0, April 4, 2018Of the six seasons that Guardiola hasmanaged City, the 2017-18 campaign
was the one in which his team were the
most dominant (Paul Hirst writes).
Kevin De Bruyne was the best
midfielder in Europe, David Silva had
been rejuvenated by his manager,
while Raheem Sterling and Sergio
Agüero were scoring goals for fun.
By the time that they arrived at
Anfield for the first leg of the
Champions League quarter-final, City’s
record in the Premier League read:
played 31, won 24, drawn 4, lost 3, goal
difference +54, points 76. City needed
only one more win to clinch the title.
There was an air of near-invincibility
about the team in the spring of 2018
but Liverpool shattered that illusion
within the space of 31 minutes.
Anfield was at its most rousing, and
Klopp’s players fed off the energy
created by the home crowd to scoreFive defining clashes from
an epic coaching rivalry
“I haven’t seen so many long balls from
Bayern in a long time”
Borussia Dortmund 0 Bayern Munich 3,
November 23, 2013The first encounter between Jürgen
Klopp and Pep Guardiola in the
Bundesliga was one that raised many
eyebrows (Constantin Eckner writes).
Guardiola arrived in Germany with a
reputation for being a coach who
preferred technical prowess over
physicality — which is why his tactical
approach when Bayern played away to
Dortmund was particularly surprising.Guardiola deployed the 6ft 2in holding
midfielder Javi Martínez as a No 10,
with the intention of using his height
and physical strength high up the pitch.
Klopp’s team defended the centre of
the field intensely, forcing Bayern to the
wings. But long balls towards Martínez
and the centre forward Mario
Mandzukic worked well because of
their physical advantages against
Dortmund’s defensive players. Klopp
viewed Guardiola’s approach as a
sign of respect, saying: “I haven’t seen
so many long balls from Bayern in a
long time.”are calm as ice in most of the
games that they play and we have
to be as well.
“But there is a season after this
game and these games are as
important as the others.”
Klopp reasoned that even if a
definitive outcome transpired — if
City’s lead stretched to four points, or if
there was a swing to a two-point
Liverpool advantage — the title race
would not be over.
After all, the numbers over the past
four seasons reveal as much.Klopp: This is our
sport’s version of
Federer v Nadal
case because we could develop and
build on what we did before. We had last
year, which was not great, but even that
we could build on because we knew
why it happened.”
Those building blocks have
constructed a formidable squad, albeit
in a different way from City. Luis Díaz,
Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcântara,
Guardiola’s former favourite at Bayern,
have all been signed by Klopp over the
past 20 months for less than the
£100 million splurged on Jack Grealish.
Indeed, Liverpool boast such rounded
attacking riches in Mohamed Salah,
Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino, Jota and
Díaz that various permutations have
their merits.
Díaz was the only one of the quintet
to play 90 minutes in the Champions
League victory over Benfica in
midweek, but offers so much pace,
menace and relentless endeavour.
Salah has not scored a goal from open
play since late February, but will surely
start and insists prolonged contract
talks are not unsettling him. “I can’t be
selfish now and talk about my
situation,” he said.
Liverpool’s threat is reflected in the
fact they have taken more shots at this
stage of a season than in any of the six
previous campaigns in which Klopp
has been in situ, according to
performance analysts Gracenote.
They have had 557 goal attempts
in 2021-22 and a haul of 77 goals is
the second-best in the club’s
history after 30 matches of a
top-flight season. City possess
the league’s best defence, which
merely adds to intrigue.
Guardiola said yesterday
that City’s much referenced
14-point lead in January
was “fake”, as it did not
factor in Liverpool having
two games in hand. Still,
that such an advantage
has been whittled down to
one suggests where the
momentum lies.
“It’s not like I think, ‘Ah
they’re under more pressure than us,’ ”
Klopp said. “They play at home, theyPaul
Joyce
Northern Football
Correspondent
6 1GS Saturday April 9 2022 | the times
Sport Premier League: Manchester City v Liverpool
yAprprprprppprpprprrrrrrrrilililililililililililililiiliiililillll 99999999999999999999999999999922222222222222222222220202020002 |RAHEEM
STERLING