Man City vs Liverpool: Seven iconic matches between Pep Guardiola & Jurgen Klopp - gallery
We’ve looked back at seven classic meetings between Manchester City and Liverpool in recent years.
Manchester City host Liverpool on Saturday in the Premier League, as both sides return from the recent international break.
The clubs met last April in a game that ultimately provided pivotal to the title race between England’s top two sides. However, Saturday’s game won’t be quite as significant, with neither team first and Liverpool currently trailing second-place City by 19 points in the table.
But in recent years the two clubs have built up an incredible rivalry, and there will be no love lost between City and Liverpool this weekend at the Etihad, in their fourth meeting of the season. Between the teams they’ve shared the last five Premier League titles, while the two managers have also won eight major honours in English football.
In fact, Pep Guardiola has never come up against an opposition manager more times than Jurgen Klopp. They’ve previously met 27 times, the first of which came in July 2013 when they managed Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. That rivalry has moved over to England, with the pair sharing a grudging respect for each other.
"I respect Jurgen so much,” Guardiola said last season. “He has made me a better manager. We are not friends - we don’t lunch together - I have his number, but I don’t call him. There is respect.”
Saturday will be the 20th time the two great managers will come face to face in English football, and we’ve been reflecting on some of the most memorable encounters from recent years…
1. Man City 5-0 Liverpool - 9 September 2017
Just the third meeting between the managers in the Premier League, and one that was an early indication of what Guardiola was building at the Etihad. Sadio Mane’s first-half red card didn’t help Liverpool, who crumbled after the break on an afternoon where Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus (2) and Leroy Sane (2) netted. City went on to record 100 points that campaign.
2. Liverpool 4-3 Man City - 14 January 2018
The reverse meeting a few months later demonstrated how much Liverpool had developed in a short period under Klopp, and the Premier League loss ended City’s hopes of going an entire campaign unbeaten. Liverpool had been 4-1 up going into the latter stages, with Mohamed Salah memorably netting from distance, but City ensured a tight end by pulling back two goals. Liverpool also eliminated City from the Champions League a few months later.
3. Man City 2-1 Liverpool - 3 January 2019
Even a few days into the new year this was billed as a potential title decider. The teams had drawn 0-0 earlier in the season, and the reverse league meeting provided another tense affair. Sane scored late on to give City the three points, and John Stones also made an unforgettable clearance to deny Liverpool from scoring, with the ball just 11 millimetres away from crossing the line. City went on to win 16 of the next 17 in the league and stopped Liverpool’s 97-point tally from finishing top.
4. Liverpool 3-1 Man City - 10 November 2019
An important match in Liverpool’s title charge, with the Reds ultimately beating City to first place by a comfortable margin. Guardiola was aggravated at two of the goals that afternoon and famously held two fingers in the air when complaining to the officials at Anfield. The Catalan felt Trent Alexander-Arnold should have had a penalty given against him seconds before Fabinho netted for Liverpool, while Salah and Mane were also on target.