Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp, two rivals who need each other

At City, Pep has added even more fast breaks and 'box to box', quick attacks looking for the defenders' back, a resource exploited against Liverpool.

The greatest evidence of the tendency for fast transitions, so majestically led by De Bruyne, is that after low crosses in positional attacks, it is the second source of City's goals to Liverpool in their direct duels with Guardiola and Klopp. The trend is also on the rise: 4 of the last 11 goals scored by the 'Citizens' against the 'Reds' have been in transition, one in every three.

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Klopp, of course, has been an inspiration in transitions for Pep. And vice versa if we talk about positional play. Because, although it is his preferred discourse, Liverpool is not only the one that executes a pressing ambush in the opponent's half, the so-called 'gegenpressing' of Klopp. Opponents know that the most effective way to deny the 'Reds' galloping games is with medium or low blocks to deny space to the back of the defense and the Merseyside team knows how to do more.

But in what matters most, in the pitch, the competition does not cease, with Liverpool unbeaten in the Premier League against City for almost three years and with four titles for the 'Sky Blues' and one for the 'Reds' in the last five years, with a Liverpool team that eliminated City in the semifinals of the FA Cup in the last head to head and that won in 2018 the Champions League quarter-final.

Klopp's and Guardiola's similarities

Both Pep and Klopp, beyond their differences and what they have copied from each other, have always maintained a great coincidence as the need to have the same profile of a very specific central defender, with good ball delivery and fast, because they do not admit another type of central defender to leave much space behind him, some to overwhelm the opponent and steal quickly, others to keep him subdued in his own field with a compact block to recover instantly.

Laporte-Dias are Pep's choice at City, while Van Dijk, who alternated last season with Konate and Matip, is Liverpool's cornerstone.