Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has aimed a dig at Jurgen Klopp saying he has more faith in Liverpool’s title challenge than their manager.
Guardiola, who also stated he was not surprised by Klopp’s comments on being unable to act like Manchester City in the transfer market, expects twists during the season despite Liverpool being ruled out of the running by their own manager.
Liverpool beat City 1-0 last Sunday in a heated affair at Anfield and it seems tensions are still relatively high between the two clubs and their managers.
Going into the fixture, the Reds were trailing the Citizens by 13 points after an awful start to the season, with Klopp claiming that his team were already out of the running for the Premier League title.
This view wasn’t shared by Guardiola who even claimed that Liverpool were still his side’s biggest challengers in the title race, snubbing the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and league leaders Arsenal in the process.
Fast-forward to Friday, and the City boss has now doubled-down on these remarks, even going so far as to say that he has more faith in his rivals than Klopp does.
‘It looks like with my statement I believe more in the Liverpool team than their manager,’ the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference ahead of City’s clash with Brighton on Saturday.
‘It’s just 10 fixtures gone, the World Cup in the middle and a lot of games to play, Europe involved and cup competitions involved, injuries involved.
‘I said before, when we have six or seven games left, yes. When it is just 10 games, one thousand million things can happen.’
The defeat last weekend came with the backdrop of Klopp’s comments, which have upset City. “Firstly, it’s not a surprise because it is not the first he has said it in the last five or six years,” added Guardiola.
Liverpool, now just seven points off City and 11 behind Arsenal, travel to Nottingham Forest for their next game.
