Pep Guardiola is set to leave the Premier League two years after Jurgen Klopp, bringing a definitive end to one of English football’s greatest managerial rivalries.
For the best part of a decade, Liverpool and Man City pushed each other to levels we hadn’t seen before. Klopp and Guardiola were different in almost every way, but the respect between them was always obvious.
Together, they made Liverpool and City the two defining teams of the era. In no particular order, these are four games that tell the story of that storied rivalry.
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Liverpool 4-3 Manchester City, January 14th 2018
The rivalry really caught fire at Anfield in January 2018. City arrived unbeaten in the Premier League and looked as though they might stroll through the season without anyone laying a glove on them. Liverpool had other ideas.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored early, Leroy Sane levelled before half-time, and then Anfield exploded after the break.
Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah all scored in a wild nine-minute spell that took Liverpool from 1-1 to 4-1 up. City fought back late through Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan, but it was not enough.
This was Klopp’s Liverpool at their most thrilling. More importantly, it showed Guardiola that dominating the Premier League would not come without resistance.
Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City, April 4th 2018
Three months later, Liverpool did it again on an even bigger stage.
By then, City were running away with the Premier League, but Liverpool were growing into a Champions League force.
The first leg of the quarter-final at Anfield was a statement. Salah scored, Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed one from distance, and Mane headed in a third after just half an hour.
City never truly recovered, and Liverpool went on to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate. It was clear by this point that Klopp had found a way to drag Guardiola into Liverpool’s chaos, and City were rocked.
It also sent Liverpool towards their first Champions League final under Klopp, even if Kiev ended in heartbreak.
Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool, January 3rd 2019
If those first two classics belonged to Liverpool, this was City’s answer.
Liverpool went to the Etihad unbeaten in the league and with the chance to move 10 points clear. Win that night, and the Premier League title felt close to inevitable.
Instead, City found the result that kept the race alive. Sergio Aguero scored, Firmino equalised, and then Leroy Sane struck the winner with 18 minutes to go.
But the image everyone remembers came earlier, when John Stones cleared the ball off the line by a matter of millimetres. Liverpool lost once all season and still finished second with 97 points.
Manchester City 2-2 Liverpool, April 10th 2022
By 2022, both teams had already reached the summit.
Liverpool had won the Champions League in 2019 and finally ended the 30-year wait for the league title in 2020. City had responded by returning to the top, and another title race was being fought on the thinnest of margins.
The 2-2 at the Etihad felt like the purest version of this rivalry.
City led twice, Liverpool came back twice. Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus scored for Guardiola’s side, while Diogo Jota and Mane answered for Klopp.
It was football at a frightening level, played by sides who knew one mistake could decide a season. City eventually won the league by a point, just as they had in 2019. Liverpool were left with 92 points, two domestic cups and another Champions League final.
Do you think Jurgen Klopp will re-join Liverpool?
That was the cruelty of the rivalry.
Klopp’s Liverpool were good enough to be remembered as one of the great English sides. Guardiola’s City made sure they had to fight for every inch of that legacy. Two of the most iconic managers of the modern era, going at each other season after season.
We may never see that level in the Premier League again.
- READ MORE: Why Mikel Arteta still can’t be compared to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool despite Arsenal’s title win
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