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The 2016-17 season of the English Premier League was always going to rekindle old managerial rivalries with the array of top class managers fighting it out for the prized trophy. In focus here is the new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp, the charismatic German who presides over the red half of Merseyside.
Both of them have clashed previously in Germany, with Guardiola’s spell in charge of Bayern Munich and Klopp’s time at Borussia Dortmund overlapping by 2 years.
Though the Pep vs Klopp battles in Germany also had the cloak of a fierce rivalry between the Bavarian club and the club from Ruhr valley, the upcoming battles in England will not have a fierce setting. Manchester City and Liverpool, though hailing from the North West of England, are not traditional rivals.
But make no mistake, Klopp vs Pep will be as intensive as any rivalry. The managerial styles are also distinct. Pep favours a patient possession based football in attack while he employs high pressing to win the ball back quick in defence. Klopp gets his teams to press intensely and attack the opposition at pace.
The pair has met a total of 8 times in Germany during a 2-year spell between 2013 and 2015. The first battle between the two was the DFL-Supercup in 2013 (German equivalent of the Community Shield) where Klopp handed Guardiola a chastening 4-2 defeat with Gundogan (who will be lining up under Pep this season) and Reus shining.
]But Pep got his revenge in their first meeting in the Bundesliga the same year when he handed Klopp a 3-0 thrashing. Though Guardiola would go on to dominate the matches in the Bundesliga, Klopp dominated the cup matches.
The final meeting between Klopp and Guardiola was the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) semifinal, where Klopp’s Dortmund went through to the final after winning the match 2-0 on penalties. The score was 1-1 after 120 minutes.
As Pep looks to turn the nouveau riche City into a dominant European force, he will come across a familiar foe when they play Liverpool and it promises to be an enticing contest.
Head-to-Head record:
| Total Meetings | 8 |
| Pep Guardiola Wins | 4 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Jurgen Klopp Wins | 4 |
