Noel Gallagher: Pep's City and Klopp's Liverpool would 'f***ing annihilate' Man Utd 1999 treble winners

The rivalry between Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp propelled both clubs to new heights, leading to record-breaking seasons and a raft of individual honours for their respective players. 

The City boss was effusive in his praise for Klopp after the German announced he would be stepping down as Liverpool manager. 

"I will miss him a lot," he said. "Jurgen has been a really important part of my life. He brought me to another level as a manager. We respect each other incredibly.”

It could be argued that Liverpool and City have been standard-bearers for the Premier League during Klopp and Guardiola’s tenures. 

Together they set the top three record point totals in the league’s entire history between 2017 and 2020. 

City’s centurions broke the 100-point barrier in 2017/18, earned 98 the following season and Liverpool’s 2019/20 campaign saw them collect 99 points overall. 

Add in Liverpool’s Champions League in 2019, City’s treble in 2023 - along with a host of domestic cups - and you can see why this rivalry might go down as the best ever. 

That’s certainly a view expressed by celebrity Manchester City fan and Oasis founder Noel Gallagher. 

Noel Gallagher: Klopp's Liverpool were unbelievable

The lifelong Cityzen has watched his club grow from third-tier also-rans to kings of the domestic and European game through the money injected by their Abu Dhabi owners. 

He revealed his admiration for Klopp AND Liverpool in an interview with The Athletic, stating that he believed the Reds could have been the best Premier League team EVER were they not kept off the top by Guardiola’s side. 

“I don’t like the chest-beating and all that s***,” he began of Klopp. 

“I know it’s required of you at Liverpool to play to the gallery. But I’ve met him a couple of times. 

“He was a bit tall for my liking. And he was a bit of a sore loser — the grass was too wet, it was a bit windy.

"But he was a lovely dude. His teams were unbelievable and, if it wasn’t for Guardiola, they would have won three leagues. That Liverpool team would have destroyed pretty much every team that came before us.”

Noel Gallagher: Football wasn't the same in '99

When asked if the Spaniard’s City teams - and Klopp’s Liverpool for that matter - were better than Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team who won the treble in 1999, the Wonderwall hitmaker was unequivocal. 

“We would have annihilated them,” he said. 

“In 1999, football was not what it is today. I was watching Sky Sports the other day when they showed an old United game in their pomp. There was nobody pressing. One player lofts the ball out one way, another player lofts it back. It was so slow. 

“Then I watch City play Liverpool and it’s the best football I’ve ever seen. Everything’s so quick, so ferocious, Bernardo Silva has run 28 miles and I’m thinking, ‘This is insane… how do these lads play at this ferocious speed and never make a mistake?’.

“So when people ask, ‘Would today’s City beat Ferguson’s United side?’, the answer is, ‘Yes, I’ve seen the evidence’. We would have annihilated them. And Liverpool would have f***ing annihilated them, too.”