Your Liverpool national media round-up for Sunday, April 10.
Jurgen Klopp makes admission about Liverpool knocking Pep Guardiola off his perch
Jurgen Klopp has admitted he is driven by the burning ambition to knock Pep Guardiola off his perch.
The Liverpool boss paid rich tribute to Guardiola and his Manchester City team before the showdown at the Etihad by calling them the “best in the world.” But Klopp qualified his praise by insisting: “I always wanted to be the coach of the team who can beat the best team in the world.”
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp has already hinted at his Liverpool line-up to face Man City
READ MORE: Sadio Mane could be about to prove Lionel Messi right when Liverpool play Man City
There have been no mind games between the top two managers of the top two teams in the Premier League. But Klopp sounded like a man who feels he has Guardiola ’s number despite boasting just one win in his last eight visits to the Etihad.
“What I say about City , I really mean," said Klopp. “Pep is the best coach in the world - no problem with that - but I always wanted to be the coach of the team who can beat the best team in the world. And actually I achieved that as well, somehow - and now we have to make sure Sunday is the day. There is a little bit of work to do but we have time and nothing else to do, so let’s give it a try.”
Read the full story from The Mirror here
I don't think City's players would run through a brick wall for Pep Guardiola - Didi Hamann
"You can’t question the pedigree of the two great rival managers calling the shots at the Etihad Stadium but I firmly believe that, in terms of achievements, Jurgen Klopp has got an edge over Pep Guardiola.
"What these two fine coaches and fierce rivals have done over the last few years is incredible and whoever comes out on top on Sunday afternoon, that won’t change.
"When Klopp arrived at Anfield in 2015 and Guardiola at City a year later, the Premier League was hugely competitive and hard to win. In just a few years they have turned it into a two-horse race. I simply wouldn’t have thought it was possible for two teams to dominate the Premier League in the way they have.
"So is this the Fergie-Wenger rivalry of the modern generation? Well, it used to get a bit more verbal between those two, but in terms of pedigree it’s definitely a fair comparison. But there are three current managers who I regard as more successful than Guardiola and I still don’t really get the hype that surrounds him."
