Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that he “misses” former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp, citing his long-term rival’s exit as one less major source of inspiration.
Klopp and Guardiola duked out the most high-spec managerial rivalry of the modern era. First coming across each other in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively, the pair were reunited in the Premier League at Liverpool and City.
The tactical savants inspired unprecedented levels of sustained success at their respective institutions, installing brands of beguiling, ever-changing football to constantly combat the tweaks made by their rival. Klopp would leave Liverpool in 2024 with one league title, yet his side twice cracked the 90-point barrier while finishing second to Guardiola and City.
“In terms of Jürgen’s side or Pep’s side, I think we respected each other,” Guardiola fondly recalled ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Arne Slot’s Liverpool. “I had the feeling that Jürgen gave me a lot and I miss him.
“He gave me a lot in sense of, to beat that guy, how much I have to think and work and do it, to make it better.”
It’s telling that in Guardiola’s first season without the mighty force of Klopp to combat, City endured their worst campaign under his stewardship. Robbed of Rodri for much of the campaign, the Catalan schemer couldn’t conjure a solution to the gaping whole which forever existed in his midfield.
After a year of adapting to a landscape devoid of his greatest frenemy, Guardiola has belatedly shown signs of instigating another tactical evolution in his quest to dethrone Liverpool as Premier League champions.
