Pep Guardiola shines light on Manchester City rivalry with Liverpool in recent seasons

Speaking during a recent press conference, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola touched on the club's relatively recent formed rivalry with Liverpool.

The Catalan coach was specifically asked about how critical the competitiveness between City and Liverpool is to the Premier League as a whole.

In response, Pep Guardiola noted that it is an important aspect of the game, as competition is needed to help aid development.

“Sport is like this, individual and collective, you need someone to get you better,” explained Guardiola.

Despite Liverpool arguably having the historical edge over the Mancunian club, over the previous decade, the north-west of England has reigned blue, despite the outcome of this season’s FA Community Shield which serves as the latest chapter in the saga.

Liverpool came out on top, lifting the Shield for the first time in 16 years, but the match appeared to be similar to some of their fixtures last season.

During their two Premier League matches during the 2021/22 season, both sides left with one point each after two close games, featuring plenty of memorable goals and defensive plays from each club.

The English top-flight was not the only competition last season where the two sides fought head to head for silverware, with the two sides squaring off at the semi-final stage of the FA Cup.

Out of the three fixtures between the two giants, it was the only match to provide a result with Liverpool eliminating Manchester City by a 3-2 scoreline. 

When discussing the now iconic and ever present rivalry, Pep Guardiola described what it means to compete against such a club.

“We were able to create this rivalry, the last years the biggest opponent we face in the titles is Liverpool, it's an honour,” said Guardiola.

The Manchester City head coach feels that club's owner Sheikh Mansour has had a great impact on the Cityzens since purchasing them back in 2008, with one of those areas being their ability to climb the ranks to get where they are now.

Guardiola exclaimed, “Before it didn't happen until Sheikh Mansour took over and make an investment to make a good environment to compete with the elite of English football.”

While both sides are expected to get off to flying starts in all competitions in the coming weeks, there is a while to go before we see the first head-to-head fixtures.

It remains to be seen at what stage, if any, will the two sides meet in cup competitions, but their Premier League meetings have in fact been scheduled.

For now, fans and the football world alike will have to wait for the next chapters in this gripping rivalry to be written on October 16th, 2022 and April 1st, 2023.