When Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola shared the Bundesliga summit, the German coach was at pains to downplay any specific rivalry with his Catalan counterpart.
“Pep isn’t my rival,” Klopp, then in charge of Borussia Dortmund, insisted.
“I’m up against another 16 teams, so in reality, each of us has 17 rivals, not just one.”
Yet, for all his hollow protestations, Klopp and Guardiola have most regularly been competing directly against one another when sharing the same domestic league.
Guardiola, for what it’s worth, very much considers it a rivalry, ranking his ongoing battle against Liverpool…
