Last Sunday, after Manchester City’s lopsided victory against Newcastle, Pep Guardiola He made statements that were not liked at all by Liverpool fans.
He commented that his feeling is that the whole country – except for the followers sky blues– are supporting Los Reds in the fight for the Premier League title. And although he recognized its greatness at European level, he mentioned that the Anfield club has only won 1 League trophy in the last 30 years. A few words that many considered completely unnecessary.
“Everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone. Of course, because Liverpool have an incredible history in European competitions, not in the Premier League, where they have won 1 in 30 years. But this is not a problem, the situation is what it is. We need to make 9 points, or maybe 6 points, depending on what happens in the next few games in terms of goal difference.”
KLOPP’S RESPONSE TO GUARDIOLA
¿What do you think Klopp about? First, while being read the verbatim quote from the coach of The citizens, The German mister could not contain his laughter. He let out a laugh.
Later, making it clear that they had no intention of creating controversy, he tried to explain that coaches, in post-match interviews, often blurt out phrases that they might never repeat.
Of course, despite the fact that he did say he did not feel supported by the whole country, he still agreed with Guardiola on one point: Liverpool has only won 1 Premier League trophy in the last 3 decades. That can not be discussed.
“I don’t know, I live in Liverpool. Here a lot of people want us to win the title, that’s true. But even here probably only 50% by the other guys (Everton fans). As coaches, and I have had this experience not only recently, after a match we are obviously massively influenced by the game, by the situations, and we say things that we would not say again. Me after the game (against Tottenham), I said I don’t like how they play. It may feel good at the moment, but it’s wrong. But it was my feeling at the time, and I couldn’t respect Antonio (Conte) more and what he is doing, how he is capable of organizing teams”.
“I don’t know exactly what situation Pep was in when… being knocked out of the Champions League is hard enough to receive and then of course Liverpool reached the final. And you have these kinds of thoughts: ‘But they played against Villarreal and we played against Real’. And you say what you say. You are right, we won the Premier League only 1 time (in 30 years). I have no idea if the whole country is supporting us, it’s not what I feel when we go out to play somewhere else; in fact, it is the opposite. But maybe he knows more about it than I do.”
Undefeated data. With Jürgen Klopp as manager, Liverpool broke a drought of 30 years without the Premier League and 14 years without the UEFA Champions League. He woke up the giant.
Did you know…? While Liverpool have only won the league 1 time in the Premier League era, Pep Guardiola has been a 3-time Premier League champion with Manchester City. If he wins the trophy this year, he will have won 4 League titles in the last 5 years of football in England. Craziness.