Jurgen Klopp has called Pep Guardiola the best manager in the world after his third Premier League title success in four seasons at Manchester City.
Manchester United's loss to Leicester City on Tuesday night ensured the Premier League trophy would be moving from the Anfield cabinet to the one at the Etihad, with Liverpool not in contention for silverware this season.
Guardiola has also led City to the EFL Cup this season and can make it a treble if his team beats Chelsea in the Champions League final on May 29.
"When you bring together financial resources and football knowledge you have a good chance to create something special and that's the case (at Manchester City)," said Klopp, who revealed he texted his congratulations to Guardiola and City's ex-Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan after their title triumph.
"They have an incredible squad and the best manager in the world and that makes it a good recipe.
"It's always a joy to play against them because it's a massive challenge from a football point of view. You can beat them but you have to be at your absolute top to do so. That happens from time to time but not this season, obviously."
Liverpool face a challenge if they are even to finish inside the top four this season - although they have a game in hand on fourth-placed Chelsea, they are seven points adrift of the Blues.
Thomas Tuchel, like Klopp himself a former Borussia Dortmund manager, has led that late-season revival, and Klopp believes Chelsea will be in strong contention to mount a Premier League title challenge next year.
"(Manchester) City is not the only challenge, I said when Thomas (Tuchel) arrived at Chelsea the squad is a present and that squad together with Thomas works out pretty well," he said.
"If you look at the squad, they can make 11 changes to their team and you think 'that's a proper team'. They will go for it next season, definitely. They will get better not worse. (Manchester) United are also in a good way.
"It's not about being far away, you have to win your own football matches. Our season was really difficult but we don't close our eyes. We should have had five or six more points, we should have, and we know that.
"We don't blame anyone for that except ourselves and now we need help from other teams and that's not the situation you want to be in but it's the best we could get and we deal with that."