Alan Shearer compares Klopp and Guardiola's rivalry to Messi and Ronaldo, what next for the rivalry?

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Premier League legend Alan Shearer has compared the rivalry between Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. With Klopp having announced his decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.

Sharer shed light on the fierce yet friendly rivalry between the German and his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola. Speaking on "The Rest is Football" podcast, Shearer claimed that Klopp and Guardiola have kept pushing each other over the years.

The former Newcastle United star also compared the fascinating rivalry to that of the one between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (via Liverpool Echo): "We have kept on saying over the years how Messi and Ronaldo have pushed each other, Jurgen and Pep have done the same in the world of management."

"They’ve pushed each other to the extreme where one has won one trophy and the other has come back and won that. They’ve gone head-to-head and pushed each other along in terms of greatness for their particular football clubs."

The rivalry between Klopp and Guardiola started over a decade ago when the latter took over at Bayern Munich while Jurgen Klopp was at the helm at Borussia Dortmund. However, their rivalry in Germany came to an early end when Klopp departed Borussia Dortmund.

However, Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 while Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016 starting arguably one of the greatest managerial rivalries in the history of football. Both managers have won every single trophy in England and Europe during their reigns at their respective clubs.

They have also kept challenging each other with their tactics and we have seen so many closely fought title races between the two. In fact, no manager has inflicted more defeats to Guardiola that Klopp which speaks volumes about how good Klopp is as a manager.

However, the rivalry between Klopp and Guardiola had always been a respectful one with both managers talking about their counterparts with utmost respect. It will be a loss for neutrals to see the rivalry coming to an end for the time being. We will hope the two cross paths once again at some point in their respective managerial careers.