Over the course of Manchester City and Liverpool's Premier League duopoly over the past five seasons, Pep Guardiola has been only too willing to praise the team standing in his way.
When questioned about the quality of Jurgen Klopp's side - whether that be in the build-up to meetings between the two clubs or during the final, neck-and-neck weeks of the season - the City boss always credits Liverpool with pushing his side all the way and keeping the pressure up, and Klopp for forcing him to evolve as a coach.
Simply put, Guardiola believes that Liverpool are the team that don't allow City to take their foot off the gas and force them to quickly find solutions to problems. That's what happened in both 2018/19 and 2021/22 - City had to quickly arrest slumps in form and dig deep within themselves to find the results that kept Liverpool at bay.
