Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool and Manchester City have ‘pushed each other the last few years’ as the two teams contest for yet another Premier League title.
Liverpool are second in the Premier League at present, six points behind Pep Guardiola’s side but with a game-in-hand on the defending champions and have a marginally better goal difference.
The two teams have won each of the past four Premier League titles and lead the division’s title race again, with Klopp believing the strength of both sides has forced the other to reach higher levels in recent seasons.
“City are a tough opponent and I already faced him (Pep Guardiola) at Bayern. which wasn’t easy,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan.
“We have pushed each other the last few years.
“I’ve said before that if we weren’t here, City would be champions by February in the last few years. And if City weren’t here, we might have been.
“And it’s not just them. Chelsea were at a different level in the Carabao Cup final.”
Liverpool welcome Inter Milan to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie tomorrow, with the Reds boasting a 2-0 aggregate lead following the first fixture at the San Siro.
Klopp provided a positive fitness update on his squad ahead of the clash and confirmed Thiago, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino have all returned to training following absences from the side.
“Thiago, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino all trained fully yesterday (Sunday). I’m not sure yet what we make of that exactly because we have to see how they react.
“Thiago was only a week out so he will probably be fine but we have to wait for it. Joel was only three or four days, so he is fine, I would say.
“With Bobby, it was longer out, it was [his] first session, so we have to see if we have to stress that or if it makes sense to give him just a few more days with proper training.
“Because we don’t train properly today, it’s a minus-one session, it’s tactical stuff, not high intensity and Bobby might need something else. We will see that, but they are all in training.”
