Klopp admits Man City vs Liverpool "truth" as rivalry comes down to single point

Is it the greatest rivalry in the history of football? The head to head between Manchester City and Liverpool undoubtedly suggests so.

Since the Merseyside club emerged under Jurgen Klopp as genuine title contenders at the start of 2018, just a single point divides these two colossal teams in four seasons of epic combat. The stats are remarkable: in those four years, from the start of the 2018-19 season, Liverpool have played 144 league games, and taken 337 points. City, in the same number of games, have 338 points.

It is staggering: it equates to 90 points a season each over four campaigns. In the entire history of the Premier League outside these two titans, only Chelsea, three times, and Manchester United, once, have ever taken more than 90 points. And it is this incredible rivalry, this epic battle, which prompts Jurgen Klopp to suggest the two teams have inspired each other to unprecedented heights.

“I'm surprised about the numbers, to be honest. It's massive,” he said. “They wouldn't have the points they have if we weren't there, and the same if the other way around. We obviously pushed each other properly, that's the truth. It's nice.

“If somebody would have asked me four years ago - 2018 or whenever - do you think that's possible and you are that close? I would have said, 'Ah, not really'. I know how people see us and them. Yes, they talk about us as a good team and blah, blah, blah, he has strikers, they are defenders, all these things. Man City is considered the best football team in the world and they got one point more than us - what does that say? Exactly.”

Klopp also believes City are the best team in the world, and it is clear he believes his Liverpool team are close enough to make the rivalry amongst the best ever; perhaps betters than United-Arsenal two decades ago, or even Barca-Real. Yet he still wants more from his players: “I think as well they are the best football team in the world but they have only one point more than us in this time. So obviously we did something right.