The manager of Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp has said his team prevented Manchester City from winning the Premier League in February this year.
Ahead of Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League match against Inter Milan scheduled to take place later today, March 8, at 21:00, Jurgen Klopp noted that Liverpool and Manchester City often push each other to an “insane level”.
Manchester City and Liverpool have been dominating the Premier League for the past fours years. In the last four years, the two clubs have completely turned the league into a two-horse race except in the 2020-2021 season where City won the league and Manchester United finished second.
Aside from that, from the 2017-2018 season, a season after coach Pep Guardiola became the coach of Manchester City, it has been extremely difficult for other teams to contend for the title except for Liverpool and City.
Hence, City have won three of the last four Premier League titles while Liverpool have won once and finished as second runner-up twice since the 2017-2018 season.
The 2018-2019 season was the toughest season for the two clubs as they had to battle from the start of the season to the end before Manchester City emerged the winners of the league with 98 points while Liverpool finished second with 97 points.
Since then, whenever the race is between City and Liverpool, one of the teams emerge winner with at least 98 points.
So far in the 2021-2022 season, the Premier League title race has been between Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool and Pep Guardiola of Manchester City. Guardiola and his boys are currently sitting on the first spot on the league table with 69 points in 28 games. While Klopp and his boys are second with 63 points in 27 games.
As it stands, City are topping Liverpool with just six points which means that once Liverpool wins their game in hand, the difference between them will be three points.
Interestingly, the two sides have one league game to play against each other this season which could be the title decider. Liverpool and Manchester City are scheduled to meet at the Etihad Stadium on April 10, 2022, at 16:30.
While acknowledging that the Premier League is the strongest in the world, Klopp insisted that if Liverpool were not there, Manchester City would have found it easier to win the Premier League and vice versa.
Jurgen Klopp and his boys still stand a chance of overthrowing Manchester City this season. The third contender ought to be third-placed Chelsea but they are 10 points behind Liverpool and 16 points behind Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp said: “It’s the strongest league in the world, no doubt about that. But it’s a challenge and actually, we enjoy it.
“If we couldn’t be here this year, or two years ago, or three years ago, then City would have been champions in February. Because we are around, it was tighter. If City were not here I think there’s a good chance we would be champions.”
🗣 "I can give that back. I don't think City would get the amount of points they will get this year if we wouldn't be around, and the other way around is the same."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 7, 2022
Jurgen Klopp responds to Pep Guardiola saying Liverpool is the "toughest opponent he has ever faced" pic.twitter.com/MNt3Z0ZjLo
Jurgen Klopp admits Pep Guardiola is the strongest opponent he ever has
Coach Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool is not new to competing with coach Pep Guardiola of Manchester City. They both competed against each other in German Bundesliga between 2013 and 2015.
During that period, Klopp was the manager of Borussia Dortmund while Guardiola was the manager of Bayern Munich.
From their days in Bundesliga to their days in the Premier League which started in 2015 for Klopp and 2016 for Guardiola, the two coaches have faced themselves about 21 times.
Both Guardiola and Klopp have recorded 9 wins, three draws, and 9 defeats apiece. Klopp’s teams have scored 35 goals against Guardiola’s teams while Guardiola’s teams have scored 39 goals against Klopp’s teams since 2013.
Ahead of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match in Anfield Stadium against Inter Milan, Jurgen Klopp said: “I could say City is the toughest opponent I ever had, but I should not forget I faced him already at Bayern [Munich] and I cannot say it was much easier.
“I know what he means. We pushed each other on insane levels in the last few years, with the number of points collected. OK, we couldn’t cope with it last year for obvious reasons, but in the other years, we were around.
“I don’t think City would get the number of points they will get this year if we weren’t around, and if they weren’t around it’s pretty much the same. But a lot of games to play – we will see where we end up.”
📺 Jurgen Klopp on Pep Guardiola:
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) March 7, 2022
"I can give that back, easily. I could say City are the toughest I ever had, but Pep at Bayern wasn't easy either! We push each other to insane levels.” 🔴 pic.twitter.com/mTk8OUavXl
