Liverpool vs Man City: Jurgen Klopp's head-to-head record vs Pep Guardiola

Jurgen Klopp vs Pep Guardiola has been one of the defining managerial battles in modern football.

Liverpool, long established as one of the biggest clubs in Europe, were in the shadows when the Abu Dhabi United Group took over Manchester City back in 2008.

The new ownership had plans to establish City as one of the major players in the world game and progress over the last decade and a half has been unremitting. 

City quickly began to dominate the English football landscape under Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and, most successfully, Pep Guardiola.

Really the only sustained challenge City have had since Guardiola's arrival is from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. 

Since his installation as Liverpool manager in 2015, the Reds are the only team that have consistently threatened City’s dominance. They have won every title going under Klopp’s leadership, no mean feat considering the roadblock in the way in the shape of the side from east Manchester. 

These are not traditional rivals, with each club looking at Old Trafford for its true grudge matches but have come to be seen as prime adversaries owing to the progress made by Guardiola and Klopp in the past few years. 

The duo have swept the board in terms of team and individual honours, winning a Champions League apiece, and sharing every Premier League title between them since 2017/18. Their title races. Meanwhile, have brought each club to new heights, accruing record-breaking points totals and hoovering up the domestic cups to boot. 

Quite simply, this is a very modern rivalry between two very old clubs, and a rivalry which has come to define English football since Klopp and Guardiola arrived on these shores. 

The first inkling of this rivalry occurred 10 years ago, when City capitalised on Liverpool’s slip-ups in the title run in to take the title from under the nose of Brendan Rodgers. 

Liverpool again lost out on honours to City in the 2016 League Cup final, Klopp’s first experience of the occasion, when City edged out the Reds on penalties. 

City then earned 100 Premier League points - and the moniker of Centurions - during the 2017-18 season. It was a campaign in which they inflicted their heaviest-ever defeat of Liverpool, 5-0, in the league, but the Reds had their revenge in knocking Guardiola’s team out of the Champions League - their only meeting in that competition - over two legs at the quarter-final stage. 

The 3-0, first-leg win stands as one of Klopp’s greatest Anfield nights. 

In 2018-19, Manchester City finished on 98 points and Liverpool on 97. The difference in the league table could be said to have come down to John Stones’ crucial goal line clearance in the meeting between the two sides at the Etihad in January, which was won by City, 2-1. 

That year City completed the domestic treble and Liverpool got their sixth European Cup / Champions League, beating Tottenham in the final. 

The next season, Liverpool clinched their first top-flight title in three decades, putting 99 points on the board, while City trailed off in second on 81.

The Reds enjoyed a fine 3-1 over City at Anfield Etihad during the campaign. City got their vengeance with a 4-0 win at home but the title was decided by that stage. 

City dominated the following season, with Liverpool’s campaign a washout. Guardiola’s team also reached the Champions League final for the first time, where they lost to Chelsea. 

The Reds ran them close the following season, with City claiming the title in the final minutes of the final day. They earned 93 points to Liverpool’s 92 with the sides sharing the spoils, 2-2, twice, which could be said to have decided the fate of the title.

The Merseysiders completed a League Cup and FA Cup double but lost the Champions League final. 

Last season was a poor one again by Klopp’s standards and it allowed City to dominate, becoming the second-ever English team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble. 

This term however and the Reds are right in the mix for glory. They lead the Premier League table heading into Sunday's crucial clash at Anfield. 

Jurgen Klopp’s record vs Manchester City

Jurgen Klopp has presided over 26 matches against Man City throughout his career, first for Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool. His first game against the Citizens was in the Champions League back in 2012, a 1-1 draw, and Dortmund won the return leg 1-0. 

His first game against City as Liverpool manager ended in a 4-1 win away at the Etihad, in December 2015, with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino among the goals. 

In total, Klopp has won 11 of his 26 matches against City in his career, drawing seven and losing eight. 

Jurgen Klopp’s record vs Pep Guardiola 

Jurgen Klopp versus Pep Guardiola is the defining rivalry of each manager’s career. When it was announced that Klopp would stand aside at the end of the season, Guardiola paid a warm tribute. 

“I had a feeling that at the end of the season when he is leaving, part of us, Man City, is leaving too. They have been our biggest rival, Liverpool in these years," the Catalan coach said.

“Personally, in Dortmund and here, he's been my biggest rival, so he will be missed. Personally, I will miss him." 

They met eight times in two years during the pair’s Dortmund and Bayern Munich days. Each manager won four times, with Klopp victorious in two of their three meetings with trophies on the line. 

In total, Klopp has faced Pep 29 times, winning 12 and losing 11, drawing the other six. He has only been victorious more often in his career against Eddie Howe. No manager has faced Guardiola more than Klopp and vice versa. 

They first met in the DFB Super Cup in 2013, a 4-2 win for Dortmund. 

Their first clash as Liverpool and Man City managers happened in December 2016 in a Premier League match which was won 1-0 by the Reds at Anfield. 

The two teams last met in November, with the game finishing 1-1. Klopp hasn’t tasted victory versus Pep and City since October 2022, and before that their last home win in the league against the Citizens was back in November 2019. 

However, Liverpool enjoyed success most recently with a trophy (of sorts) on the line, winning the 2022/23 Community Shield. The two managers have only met in a final once outside season-opening curtain raisers. That was the 2019 League Cup final, won by City on penalties. 

Liverpool reeled off six home wins in a row versus City between April 2014 and April 2018 - though some of those fixtures pre-date both Klopp and Guardiola.

That sequence preceded a 0-0 draw in the league, a 3-1 win for Liverpool in November 2019, a 4-1 City win in February 2021, a 2-2 draw in October 2021 and Liverpool’s 1-0 win against City in October 2022. 

It’s a different story at the Etihad, where City are unbeaten in their last seven stretching back to April 2018. Since then there have been four City wins, including a 4-1 and a 4-0, and, just prior to that run was a 5-0 hammering. 

Jurgen Klopp has faced Manchester City nine times as Liverpool manager at Anfield, losing only once. Eight of those nine fixtures were against Pep.