"A fantastic era" - Liverpool boss Arne Slot compares Jurgen Klopp-Pep Guardiola rivalry to Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo
Newly-appointed Liverpool manager Arne Slot has compared the Jurgen Klopp vs Pep Guardiola rivalry to that of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo. Slot hailed his predecessor for how well he competed with Guardiola over the years.
The Dutch tactician claimed that Klopp and Guardiola's staunch competition had a lot in common with the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo. Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the most competitive rivalry of all time between two footballers.
While Pep Guardiola has been incredibly successful during his time at Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp was the one who made things a bit difficult for the Spaniard. While crediting the German for his work at the Merseyside club, the new Reds boss said, as quoted by Liverpool's official website:
"Yeah. I am 45 now and [have been] watching football for a long time and watching football a lot, and I think this has been an era where everybody looked at the Barcelona side of Xavi [Hernandez], [Andres] Iniesta and [Lionel] Messi and the rivalry there was between Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo being there."
Slot admitted that he watched both Liverpool and Manchester City a lot over the years under Klopp and Guardiola respectively. He also hailed the Premier League as the 'nicest' league in Europe. Slot added:
"And I think when that came to an end, the new rivalry in European football came because of Jürgen – he managed Liverpool and Pep Guardiola, of course, managed Manchester City and I think for everyone who loves football it was a fantastic era to watch the both of them getting the best out of each other. Yeah, I have seen a lot of games of Liverpool, a lot of games of City as well, and when you live in Europe the Premier League is probably the nicest league to follow."
The former AZ and Feyenoord manager concluded:
"So, yeah, he has done a tremendous job over here and I am really happy with that as a fan, but now as his successor he left Liverpool in the best possible way, I think. So, a very good team, the fans are very good as well, so [I am] looking forward to it."
Jurgen Klopp boasts an amazing record against Pep Guardiola, having come up against the Spaniard in Germany and England. The two clashed 30 times with Klopp winning 12 games and Guardiola winning 11.
Klopp won a total of eight trophies during his time as Liverpool manager while Guardiola has won 17 trophies as Manchester City manager.
Danny Murphy heaps praise on Liverpool star following his Euro 2024 performance
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy heaped praise on Netherlands attacker Cody Gakpo for his showing against Poland. The Dutchman was thoroughly impressive for the Oranje and scored the equalizer in a 2-1 comeback win against Poland in their Euro 2024 opener.
Murphy insisted that Gakpo looked sharp and confident in the game and always took up good positions. He said on the BBC:
"Gakpo looks really fit and confident. He is positive with his runs and is getting in good areas. He gets a bit of luck with the deflection. He has been in some really good positions and he will probably be a little disappointed that he hasn't scored more. He has got the goal his performance deserved."
Gakpo has been an important player for Liverpool since his £37 million switch from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023. He has featured 79 times for the Reds to date, scoring 23 times and providing nine assists.