Liverpool v Manchester City: Klopp and Guardiola the unlikely Premier League flag-bearers

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London, April 4: After the first legs of this season's Champions League last-16 ties there was anticipation of the Premier League recovering its dominant position of a decade ago.

In 2008, Chelsea overcame regular semi-final foes Liverpool, only to lose to Manchester United on penalties in a Moscow final.

Recent years have proved a more fallow affair but February's first legs ended with Manchester City and Liverpool all but through to a draw that would pit them mouth-wateringly together and none of Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester United were behind – the latter two with home legs to come.

Then Lionel Messi happened, streetwise Juventus happened and nothing of any particular note happened at Old Trafford before United collapsed to a humiliating loss against Sevilla.

It left Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp as the keepers of English football's flame in Europe's top competition - a curious position for the two master tacticians to hold given the consistent wave of criticism each faced early in their current tenures.

"Absolutely deluded"

You see, titles at home and abroad with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were all well and good, but tiki-taka (a label Guardiola himself hates, but a useful shorthand here) and gegenpressing would not work in a Premier League of hectic festive schedules, and cold Wednesday nights at Stoke.

There were plenty of Guardiola critiques, many verging on gleeful, as City spluttered during the middle months of 2016-17, although Stan Collymore's efforts in The Mirror are still worthy of special attention.

"If he thinks he's going to turn up and outplay everybody in the Premier League, and that teams are going to let his Manchester City side have the ball for 90 per cent of the time and pass pretty patterns around them, then he is absolutely deluded," Collymore boomed.

The former Nottingham Forest and England striker went on to write of the "unique circumstances" of the Premier League and "grinding it out"; the ludicrous assumption, accepted as a truism in some quarters, being that you never have to do likewise in LaLiga or the Bundesliga.

Guardiola sought to defuse those comments by pretending not to know who Collymore was – Stan was not amused – and the episode probably drew a weary smile from old adversary Klopp.

"That's him asking his players to play a high-tempo pressing game from the top end," Sam Allardyce told talkSPORT when asked about a spate of injuries that hit Liverpool's squad in early 2016, comments he subsequently apologised for to an affronted Klopp.

"I don't think Jurgen has realised just how ferocious our league is at this period of time and because he has asked for that extra high energy, that extra 10 yards, these lads are fatiguing now, with so many games in such a short period of time, and are picking up these muscle strains."

Silly Jurgen, not realising. English football is all about hard running and giving "110 per cent", but not when you give it a fancy German name. Incidentally, in near fulfilment of Collymore's anti-prophecy, Allardyce's Everton lost 3-1 to City at the weekend, with Guardiola's men enjoying 82 per cent of possession as they repeatedly passed pretty patterns around their hosts.

Doing it their way

Catalan journalist Emilio Perez de Rozas found little sympathy in his assertion early last year that there was "a lot of Brexit" about criticism of Guardiola, but strains of the insularity and feelings of British exceptionalism that informed that generation-defining vote also permeate the national game.

Since the advent of the Premier League a quarter of a century ago, English football has embraced the world's finest managerial talents but under the assumption that a degree of assimilation was forthcoming.

Three Italian coaches have won Premier League titles, but the Mediterranean nation's tradition of solid defending was something English football intuitively understood. Similarly, Arsene Wenger set in motion a revolution at Arsenal built on those hardy foundations of Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Keown and Winterburn. Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea with an instantly recognisable Cloughian blend of charm and arrogance.

Guardiola and Klopp invited scorn for having the temerity to insist on doing it their way – methods that have led their teams to Wednesday's crunch clash at Anfield.

Influencing England

Heavy defeats at Leicester City and Everton last season left Guardiola at a crossroads where he decided to double down on his ideas. His procession to the Premier League this term remains unchecked, save for a January defeat to Klopp and Liverpool.

Progress at Anfield has not been so dizzying - City's finances being an undeniable factor here - but the development of a thrilling, high-octane football team has been sustained and impressive.

During the recent international break, England manager Gareth Southgate placed City, Liverpool and Tottenham – under the superb guidance of Mauricio Pochettino – at the heart of his World Cup plans, aping elements of their clubs' tactics and styles in two creditable performances against Netherlands and Italy.

Klopp and Guardiola's influence is set to endure for a while longer in Manchester, Liverpool and beyond. They are a credit to themselves and their clubs, and a gift that will keep on giving to English football.

Ahead of the game at Anfield on Wednesday, we take a look at the Opta stats behind the two sets of forwards who will surely decide the tie.

AGUER-NO! JESUS ANSWERS CITY'S PRAYERS

The absence of Aguero is a blow for City. A knee problem means the club's all-time leading scorer will have a watching brief back home in Manchester. This season, he has scored 30 times and also shown his creative side with seven assists, meaning he has been involved in a goal on average every 78 minutes.

However, having Gabriel Jesus waiting in the wings softens the blow to a degree. The Brazilian has scored 12 goals, including finding the net in Saturday's 3-1 win away at Everton, in 1,946 minutes of action.

He has converted 22.6 per cent of his shots this season, a higher number than the man he will replace in the central role of City's front three. However, he averages a goal every 162 minutes, a far higher number than the prolific Aguero (97).

Jesus may be more suited than his fellow South American to press from the front when City are without the ball, but the numbers suggest the 21-year-old will struggle to match Aguero's output.

BOBBY'S SAMBA BEAT

There will be an intriguing battle within the war as two Brazilian forwards take centre stage. National boss Tite will no doubt be paying close attention to the performances of Jesus and compatriot Roberto Firmino, particularly with a World Cup looming on the horizon.

The focal point of Liverpool's front three, Firmino is enjoying his best season since moving to England. The 26-year-old has dazzled like his pearly white teeth, scoring 23 goals - eight of them in the Champions League, including one in the qualifying round - and also laying on 12 assists.

He has played more minutes (3,374) than any of the forwards who will be on display at Anfield but shows no signs of slowing down as we reach the closing stages of the campaign.

Firmino has been involved in a goal every 96 minutes and has fired off 116 shots, converting 19.8 per cent of them. He still leads Liverpool's press from the front of course, yet there is much more to his game than simply working hard for the team's cause.

CITY'S SLICKERS

Raheem Sterling will return to familiar surroundings for the first leg. He left Liverpool under a cloud in July 2015, joining the blue half of Manchester for what was at the time a record fee for an English player.

This season, the 23-year-old has taken his game to a new level. Criticised in the past for lacking an end product, Sterling has scored 21 times from 96 shots. He bagged four in the group stage of the Champions League, including netting both home and away against Napoli.

Leroy Sane has not matched Sterling in terms of goals, albeit 13 is still an impressive return at this stage of the season when you consider he managed nine in his first year at the Etihad Stadium.

The Germany international is the expert at setting up his team-mates, though. He's registered 15 assists, making him the top creator on either forward line, in 41 appearances to date.

THE EGYPTIAN KING

Liverpool's front three of Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane have combined to score 75 goals in all competitions this season. Even City's first-choice triumvirate (Sterling-Aguero-Sane) lag slightly behind their opponents in terms of scoring output, managing to find the net 64 times.

As already mentioned, Salah tops the club's scoring charts, averaging a goal every 90 minutes. That is because he gets so many chances, right? Well, not according to the numbers - the former Chelsea player has had 163 attempts, but he has found the net with 22.7 per cent of them.

Add in his 10 assists and Salah has been involved in a goal every 71 minutes. That is a better number than all those who will be involved on Wednesday, as well as the absent Aguero.

The Egyptian's sensational debut campaign with Liverpool has overshadowed Firmino's 23-goal haul to a degree, while Mane has contributed 15 after switching flanks to accommodate Salah in the team. Still, as a threesome who work so well together, they are tough to stop.

Liverpool vs Man City: Number Game: OPTA Facts

179 - Liverpool and City will meet for the 179th time in all competitions, but this will be their first encounter in European competition.

4 - Sergio Aguero has scored in all four of his Champions League away appearances this season for City (four goals) - no player for an English club has scored in five away outings in a single campaign.

14 - Liverpool have not lost a home match in European competition since October 2014 (3-0 against Real Madrid) and are now unbeaten in 14 at Anfield (W9 D5 L0).

3 - Leroy Sane has scored three goals in his two appearances against the Reds in 2017-18.

28 - Liverpool are the highest-scoring team in the Champions League this season (28 goals). The record tally of goals by an English team in a single campaign is 32 by Manchester United in 2002-03, while Liverpool's best is 29 in 2007-08.

10 - Roberto Firmino has been involved in 10 goals (seven scored, three assisted) in the Champions League this season - only Cristiano Ronaldo has been involved in more (14).

Messi returns as Barca host Roma

Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Lionel Messi is expected to back for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Roma and for Barcelona his return cannot come soon enough.

Messi's latest rescue-act on Saturday, when he came off the bench to inspire a remarkable fightback against Sevilla, has regurgitated the question of Barca's dependency on their number 10.

It is difficult to quantify Messi's brilliance. He would be missed by any team in the world, not least Argentina, who were thrashed 6-1 by Spain last week with the injured forward watching on from the stands.
But for Ernesto Valverde, there is an urgency to the issue because if Messi is not at his blistering best, perhaps feels his hamstring ache, or is somehow contained by Roma's defence, his side must find another way through.

"We're up against the very best in Messi," Roma forward Stephan El Shaarawy said. "Every time he gets on the ball, he can make something happen. That's why we'll have to try to act accordingly and restrict his influence as much as possible."

Matches start at 12:15 am IST (Thursday)

Live on Sony Ten Network

Source: (OPTA and agencies)