Pep Guardiola believes Liverpool can stop his Manchester City team in the Champions League this season.
The City manager spoke to CBS Sports Golazo about The Reds after his team beat Sporting 5-0 in Lisbon.
When asked by Peter Schmeichel who could beat his team in current form, Pep’s answer was unequivocal.
“Liverpool is six points behind us,” said Pep.
“Liverpool were our biggest rival in the last seasons, they always were there, they’re a pain in the __ all the time! They’re a fantastic team in Europe.”
Pep’s answer shows the esteem in which he holds this Liverpool side. The two have had some titanic tussles for the Premier League title in the last few years, and this season looks as though it could be a similar story.
Can Liverpool catch City
Guardiola obviously thinks so. Although he is well known to pay lip service to teams who have just felt the wrath of his team, this didn’t feel like that.
Just last weekend, the 51-year-old said he “didn’t believe” that Jurgen Klopp thinks Liverpool can’t overturn City at the top of the Premier League.
Guardiola suggests that Liverpool are six points behind his team. The gap is actually nine points. Liverpool have a game in hand coming up against Leeds United next mid-week.
Should they win that and close the gap to six points, Liverpool will start to believe they can do it.
If The Reds can keep in touch with City until the sides meet in April, that will be a mouth-watering clash at the Etihad.
What about in Europe
As for the Champions League, Guardiola has every reason to fear The Reds.
In 2017/18, Klopp’s team put in a brilliant display against City at Anfield to win 3-0 in the quarter-final. That was followed up by a 2-1 win at the Etihad as Liverpool reached the final that year.
Arguably that was against an even better Citizen’s side than this one. Pep’s team reached a record 100 Premier League points that season, but they were blown away by Liverpool in Europe.
Either way, after Man City’s win last night they can be safely put in the hat for the quarter-finals this year.
Let’s hope that Liverpool can take similar steps towards the next stage of the competition with a win against Inter at the San Siro tonight.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
