The mutual respect flowed from Pep Guardiola when speaking at length on his rivalry with Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, while rumours of taking the Brazil national job were also addressed.
Man City and Liverpool have combined to dominate the Premier League over recent years. City have won three out of the last four with Liverpool winning their first Premier League title in 2019-20. The pair have also clashed in the Champions League and will meet in the FA Cup semi-finals a week on April 16.
But before then, the modern rivals will do battle at the Etihad on Sunday with the fate of the Premier League trophy potentially at stake.
Many had predicted Chelsea would thrust themselves into the title mix this season, but it has once again been Liverpool and City as the final two left standing.
And speaking in his Friday press conference (via the Manchester Evening News), Guardiola spoke in glowing terms about his great adversaries.
When asked if Liverpool v City is bigger than Real Madrid v Barcelona, Pep said: “We play many times, more times.
“Jose [Mourinho – Real’s manager during Pep’s time at Barca] is an exciting manager and we had the rivalry in Barcelona. In five years here we play many times, all the times we were close.
“I faced in Munich with Jurgen [at Dortmund]. How we set up the teams here we were close many times. Every season except the year we got 100 points and the year they got 99 we were tight.”
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