Pep Guardiola believes Liverpool are his greatest rivals and the perfect team for Manchester City to be playing in what will be his 1,000th game as a manager.
City face the defending champions on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium with both clubs trying to chase down Arsenal in the Premier League title race this season.
Yet it is the rivalry with Liverpool which has been the theme of Guardiola’s time in England. Barring Chelsea’s success in 2016-17 – which was Guardiola’s first Premier League campaign – City and Liverpool have shared out the last eight titles. City have won six and the Merseyside club two in that period.
Guardiola, 54, had faced Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool 22 times winning seven of those and losing eight with seven draws. Last season, City lost twice to Arne Slot’s Reds.
Asked if he believes Liverpool are the team which has pushed him the most, Guardiola said: “Absolutely. For the timing. I think we pushed Liverpool to be better and they pushed us to be better, that is for sure.”
Guardiola, who has managed Barcelona B, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now City across 18 years in management, will reach the milestone of 1,000 games in a game which could be significant in both his side’s and Liverpool’s chances of challenging current league leaders Arsenal who are six points clear.
Liverpool come into the game after wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid have stifled suggestions of a slide under Slot after a run of six defeats in seven while City look closer to their best after last season’s struggles saw them finish third.
“I had to choose one rival for this personal milestone – I want to share it with many, many people — that would be the best,” said Guardiola.
“Because I’ve been longer in this country than ever, of course Barcelona had the impact in my life as a ballboy, football player and manager was obvious and Bayern were an incredible step as well but Liverpool especially, with Jurgen, have been the biggest rival in this country.
“It could not be better, to be honest.”
City and Liverpool have shared out the last eight league titles, barring the 2016-17 Chelsea triumph (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Liverpool head coach Slot compared the game to the Clasico, between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which Guardiola has managed in as well.
“Barcelona vs Real the external noise is 1000 times higher,” said the Spaniard. “Louder than here. Here you arrive with a sense of peace, do what you have to do in the the moment of the game and the crowd is quite similar in being fantastic. Maybe we help to create this rivalry for the last decade, before it was United-Liverpool I guess, no?
“Arsenal as well, Chelsea, the derbies of London. Here we have our rivalry with United but what happened in the Jurgen period, in our period of course it has been the biggest, biggest.
“I enjoy a lot this healthy rivalry that both clubs have. I always had the feelings of how much we respect each other. In terms of Jurgen’s side and Pep’s side, we respect a lot each other. Jurgen gave me a lot, I miss him, in terms of how much I needed to think and work to beat that guy and make it better.”
Guardiola is likely to be without midfielder Rodri, who continues to recover from a hamstring issue and get back to full fitness from last season’s anterior cruciate ligament injury. Rodri has featured just eight times this season. He came on late against Bournemouth last weekend but was not in the squad for the midweek win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
“We’ll see tomorrow but I think we won’t take the risk as now it is the international break afterwards,” added Guardiola. “We have to make the time when he feels strong and fit and can sustain actions in the game and he can sustain it proper. It is still November and the best part of the season is ahead of us and we need him.”
