Pep Guardiola says he will be inviting his great rival Jurgen Klopp into his office for a glass of wine after Sunday’s title showdown … but only if Manchester City win! The Blues boss joked about his relationship with Klopp, which has remained on a civil level despite the fact the two teams have gone head to head for major honours in the last five years.
Guardiola declared that Liverpool are the greatest rivals of his managerial career, even surpassing the toxic enmity between his Barcelona side and Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid - a relationship that the Spanish media dubbed “The Disease”. Guardiola first locked horns with Klopp when he went to Bayern Munich and the German was in charge at Borussia Dortmund, with the Liverpool boss finishing as runner-up in Guardiola’s first season.
But it is since Guardiola joined City in 2016, a year after Klopp landed at Anfield, that the rivalry has really taken off. Unlike the difficult relationship with Mourinho, this one has remained respectful, on and off the field. And he joked that he would be perfectly happy to share a glass of red wine with his opposite number after the table-topping clash at the Etihad on Sunday - as long as he is on the winning side.
ALSO READ: Guardiola cites Liverpool as the greatest rivals of his career
“If we win I will invite him, I’d love to,” grinned Guardiola, before adding: “He makes world football a better place to be. A huge competitor but I think it’s good – at the end we have many things but we have spoken together in Germany, here, the way his teams play.”
He added that the rivalry between City and Liverpool - and him and Klopp - could go on for some time, saying: "I would say Rafa [Nadal] and Roger [Federer] were two decades, to sustain for a long time is more difficult but in this period, I will remember my period here, when I'm watching and playing golf, I’ll remember my biggest rivals as Liverpool. Absolutely we wouldn’t be as good but for them, after 100 points, 98 you need someone to push them.
"We have to take another step, our chairman and chief executive, we want to grow. The more credit I give, it’s not winning one Premier League title, this is the most important thing. Federer, Nadal, [Novak] Djokovic, every time they are there and that’s what I’m proud of."
Sign up to our City newsletter so you never miss an update from the Etihad Stadium this season.
Catch up on all the latest Blues headlines in our Man City section
