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Pep Guardiola makes Liverpool ‘best three’ claim and describes Jurgen Klopp change
Pep Guardiola declared Liverpool one of the best three teams in the world as he pinpointed how Jurgen Klopp and the Anfield crowd helped thwart his Manchester City side.
Having dominated the first half, City were forced to come from behind twice after the interval to earn a 2-2 draw in a thrilling Premier League clash on Sunday.
Phil Foden and a deflected Kevin De Bruyne shot ensured the spoils were shared after Sadio Mane and then Mohamed Salah had put the Reds ahead.
The result means both trail early leaders Chelsea going into the second international break of the season.
While pleased with his team’s performance, Guardiola admits City only have themselves to blame for failing to capitalize on their first-half advantage.
“We can’t forget which team we were playing,” he said. “For me, Liverpool are one of the best three teams in the world, when you have Mane and Salah and Jota, and Firmino coming in and Van Dijk in defence, and the way they play.
“The last few times we have come here, we have played at a good level.
“When you play the way we played the first half, especially between 15 and 45 minutes, in this stadium was really good and we created chances.
“We did not score because we are not good in departments. We didn’t have a thousand million chances but we had much more than them, but we didn’t take advantage.
“We knew it half-time and spoke about that. And we knew the second half would be completely different.
“I guess Jurgen put the right energy in his words about the change, Anfield makes its contribution and after 1-0 anything can happen.
“The next five or 10 minutes after we conceded a goal, Anfield pushed a lot – you couldn’t have 90 minutes like the last 30 minutes of the first half were.
“But we were still in the game and we came back not once but twice and that makes me incredibly satisfied.”
Guardiola added: “Always I believe the way a team loses shows they are a good team and the way we lost in Paris (Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek) shows me we are a good team.
“The way we drew today showed we are a good team.
“It is in the bad moments you have to make a step. It wasn’t easy today coming from Paris. After the way we played the first half, to be losing 1-0 and then 2-1 and still be there is quite good.
“That won’t give you the championship and that won’t give you the results maybe, but the satisfaction is massive. Why should we be disappointed about today?”
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Pep Guardiola makes Liverpool ‘best three’ claim and describes Jurgen Klopp change
