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Sports Illustrated

Sport

Ewan Ross-Murray

Liverpool or Real Madrid: Who Are Pep Guardiola’s Greatest Rivals?

Pep Guardiola Liverpool Real Madrid [ Jurgen Klopp Madrid (Organization) FC Barcelona Los Blancos Clasico (Organization) Manchester City USMNT

Pep Guardiola has faced 158 opponents across nearly 1,000 matches as a manager. Naming his toughest ever adversary is quite the challenge.

However, there are two clubs against which Guardiola has most notoriously struggled during his glistening career: Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Battles with Liverpool have come at least twice per season since Guardiola took over at Manchester City a decade ago, while the Catalan has been entirely unable to avoid Real Madrid across his career—even after departing Barcelona in 2012.

At Camp Nou, it was Los Blancos, Barcelona’s fierce Clásico foes, that were Guardiola’s toughest competitor. At the Etihad Stadium, Liverpool have been the club most consistently pushing City to loftier and loftier heights.

But which nemesis has been trickiest for the 55-year-old across his managerial career?

Pep Guardiola Reveals Greatest Career Rival

Jürgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola — Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool pushed Man City to their limits. | Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images.

After Man City were ousted by Real Madrid in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League, Guardiola was drawn into commentary on his toughest opponent. Despite another humbling defeat to Los Blancos, he chose Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool as his greatest foe.

“Real Madrid have not been my biggest challenge. My biggest challenge has been Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool,” admitted Guardiola. Then directly addressing Spanish media, he added: “Maybe you’re in Spain and you didn’t notice. You have no idea what it was like to face Liverpool in those games, a great learning experience.”

In 2020 and 2023, Guardiola also insisted Klopp was his greatest career rival, and it’s little surprise to see this opinion recently restated given the immense battles between the German’s Liverpool team and Guardiola’s City.

While the Cityzens hoovered up the bulk of domestic silverware during Klopp’s spell at Liverpool, it was the Merseysiders who stretched them to their limits. Klopp’s men undoubtedly pushed City to unprecedented success, with direct duels between the two coaches often producing fireworks.

Pep Guardiola Record vs. Liverpool, Real Madrid

The stats certainly support Guardiola’s belief. All 26 of his meetings with the Reds have come as City head coach and only four have not involved Klopp. Arne Slot has won two and lost two in his clashes with Guardiola’s side.

Out of all the Catalan’s battles with Liverpool, he has managed just nine victories—the only opponent Guardiola has faced on 14 or more occasions that he’s failed to secure double-digit victories against. An overall win rate of just 34.6% shows that even in City’s brightest campaigns under their legendary coach, meetings with the Reds were never straightforward.

When analyzing Guardiola’s record against Klopp’s Liverpool, that win ratio drops down to 31.8%. The German is the manager Guardiola has faced most throughout his time in management and even including meetings between his Bayern Munich team and Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, the current City boss has won just 11 of 30 duels with his chief nemesis—a win rate of just 36.7%.

Guardiola has faced off against Real Madrid more regularly but has a notably stronger record against the Spanish giants. He’s won 14 of 30 meetings—46.7% of all games—and half of his 10 defeats against Los Blancos have come over the past three seasons with City—a period in which the English behemoths have struggled in comparison to the glory years.

At Barcelona, Guardiola lost just two of 15 battles with Madrid, the maestro helping La Blaugrana not only dominate the Clásico, but the entirety of Spanish and European football during his stint in charge.

There can be no question that Liverpool are the toughest opponent Guardiola has ever faced, especially during Klopp’s tenure. His points per match total of just 1.31 against the Reds is his lowest against any opponent he’s faced more than five times, and while Madrid are not far behind (1.60 points per match average), Liverpool’s gegenpressing machine have always been Guardiola’s kryptonite.