Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp were very complimentary of each other in their pre-match press conferences ahead of Manchester City‘s trip to Liverpool on Sunday.

On Friday, though, as the Premier League‘s most modern rivalry prepares for another battle, Guardiola and Klopp were frankly lovely about each other.

Guardiola said Klopp made him a better manager, and said it was an honour for City to be able to be rivals to such a historic club as Liverpool. Klopp said City are the best team in Europe at the minute, and didn’t deny that a point would be a good result for his side.

There have been a number of spats between the two which have played out in the media, rather than personally, in the five years they have been Premier League opponents.

Klopp accepts some responsibility for that but stressed he considers the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach a friend.

“Not sure if I ever told Pep but I like him, it’s true,” said the German ahead of their meeting at Anfield on Sunday.

“From time to time I annoy him with things I say in press conferences that are not meant to say anything bad about him or Man City but then somebody on the City staff tells him that ‘Klopp said this or that’ and I can see in his press conference that he gets really angry. Sorry for that.

“I respect him a lot and I said it before – we think we know a lot about each other but we actually don’t.

“We meet each other obviously for football games and two years ago, I think it was, we had a few situations where we went together to Manchester for awards and stuff like this and our families met.

“And I can tell you that somebody with a family like Pep Guardiola must be a good person because Mrs and the kids are outstanding and that is what is important to me.

“So during the game whatever he says and whatever I say…I want to win desperately, he wants to do that, and we are completely different personalities.

“But nonetheless I like him and I respect him and it’s really one of the biggest challenges for all managers in football to face his teams because they are good.

“If you make a mistake you get punished and that is pretty much the game against Man City always – so you had better not make a lot of mistakes.”

These Klopp’s comment on Guardiola has prompt Plenty of Sky Blues to react on social media.

I’ve grown a like to klopp and Liverpool this past year not gonna lie
— Ashley Clark (@ashley___04) October 1, 2021

Klopp is genuinely a really nice guy, it’s just his excuses which make people dislike him
— MH ⁷💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@7Mcfcmax) October 1, 2021

You can’t help but like him.
— Lindsey Galley (@whatrtheoptions) October 1, 2021

What a guy, still hope we smack them 5-0 tho
— 🇧🇼 (@bdeanMCFC) October 1, 2021

Klopp giving so much respect for City, as if it will be hard for them to beat us. With their attack in the best form I wouldn’t be surprised if they win 3:0
— Honest-MCFC-Fan (@Mcfchonest) October 1, 2021

As a City supporter I respect this very much. Although I despise Liverpool (as I should), Klopp is a class act and also a brilliant manager. Cheers!
— Jeff Thibault (@JeffThibs9) October 1, 2021

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