Pep Guardiola was a really happy man on Sunday. Not only did he won (again) against their city rivals Manchester United, but he also destroyed them, as his team scored four goals, had 25 shots and had a period of 15 minutes when they had over 90% ball possession. Even Guardiola, who usually moans about something whatever the score is, admitted his team played it perfectly this time. But, even this great win couldn’t be celebrated without Liverpool. Klopp: ‘The plan is still to retire in 2024’With this triumph, The Citizens moved again to six points more than the Reds, but the Liverpudlians have a game in hand. And the final showdown between the title rivals is scheduled at the Etihad on the 10th of April. Sporting, Crystal Palace, Southampton (in FA Cup) and Burnley are obstacles to City before that game, but Guardiola cannot stop thinking about the Reds. “I said many times, the biggest success for a manager is after winning three Premier Leagues in four years, we still run like we run and are there to win again. Still we are humble enough every single training and every single game, do it to be there. After you can win or lose. These guys are still there, if we can’t do it at the end, it’s because we have the toughest opponent I’ve faced in my 12, 13 years as a manager. Liverpool are outstanding. Fight with them and be with them means after a big success in domestic trophies and titles is the biggest achievement in my career” said the Spaniard. ‘Liverpool can beat us. They are pain in the a**’Off course, the journalists rushed over to the Liverpool pre-Inter press conference looking for a reply. And they got one, as the German replied in his own way. “Yeah, I can give that back! I could say City are the toughest opponent I ever had, but Pep at Bayern wasn’t easy either. But I know what he means. We pushed each other on insane levels in the last few years. The amount of teams both teams collected. We couldn’t match it last year for obvious reasons. I don’t think City would get the amount of points they have had this year if we were not around, and the other way round is the same. There are a lot of games still to play. We will see where we end up. I’ve said before that if we weren’t here, City would be champions by February last few years. And if City weren’t here, we might have been” replied Klopp.
