08 November September 2019, by: Carl Lewis

Jurgen Klopp v Pep Guardiola: The Rivalry and Best Matches

The rivalry between Manchester City and Liverpool has become the biggest (in terms of competitiveness) in the Premier League.

Both clubs are led by inspirational and of course tactically superior managers. Interestingly, no manager has beaten Pep Guardiola more than Jurgen Klopp but Pep remains a serial winner in terms of silverware.

No other manager who has beaten Guardiola on more occasions than Klopp. He’s overcome Pep eight times out of the 17 meetings with the Spaniard winning seven with the games drawn.

For context, Jose Mourinho has been on the winning side only five times against Guardiola in their 22 meetings.

Klopp took charge of Liverpool in October 2015 while Guardiola moved in the summer of 2016. If you look at their overall Premier League record, the German has been involved in 155 Premier League games, winning 95 of them. He’s also accrued fie Manager of the Month awards

Meanwhile, Guardiola also has 95 wins in the Premier League from his 125 matches. Which means Klopp a decent win rate of 61%, the best in Liverpool’s long history. However, it’s modest compared to Guardiola’s remarkable 76.6% win rate, easily the best in Premier League history,

Guardiola has picked up seven Manager of the Month awards to Klopp’s five, but of course, there is one stat that matters above all others.
Guardiola has won the league title in two of his three seasons, while Klopp has yet to achieve that feat.

Here is a trip down memory lane for their best matches sin their history which began in the Bundesliga with Borrusia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Klopp was triumphant after his first meeting with Guardiola as Borussia Dortmund beat Bayern Munich 4-2 in the German Super Cup in 2013. The game was Guardiola’s competitive debut with Bayern.

Guardiola levelled up the head to head when the two sides met in the Bundesliga winning 3-0. Interestingly, it was Bayern’s first league win over Dortmund since February 2010.

The rivalry resumed on New Year’s Eve in 2016 as Liverpool hosted City in the Premier League. Georginio Wijnaldum’s eighth-minute header was the difference between the sides as Liverpool won 1-0.

Aguero hit the opener despite a promising start from the Reds but Sadio Mane’s sending off on 37 minutes for a high boot would define this match.

Gabriel Jesus’ goals either side of the break took the contest away from Liverpool. Leroy Sane’s late double rubbed salt in the wounds and handed Klopp his joint-heaviest defeat as a manager.

City were ruthless and maintained that attacking strategy dropping just four points and staying unbeaten for their first 22 league games.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had the hosts ahead within 10 minutes and, although Sane equalized before half-time, three fast goals around the hour mark from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah had set Liverpool on course for a memorable win.

Traditional defensive issues came to light for Pool as first Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan pulled goals back for City. However, Liverpool’s blitz was enought to ensure a 4-3 win.

On a boisterous European night at Anfield, Liverpool surged into a 3-0 lead in a little over a half hour of the first leg. January signing Virgil van Dijk was already showing signs of his quality with Pool keeping a clean sheet. They won the seocnd leg 2-1 to continue Klopp’s edge of Pep.

Leroy Sane scored the winning goal as Manchester City handed Liverpool a first league defeat of the season with a 2-1 win at Etihad Stadium. This was a defining match for City and Pep’s league success considering they edged Liverpool by such a small margin in the league.

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