Pep Guardiola says Liverpool battle is ‘one of his biggest career achievements’

Pep Guardiola has explained how Manchester City's rivalry with Liverpool has handed him one of the biggest achievements of his career after his side went six points clear at the top.

The Spaniard, who won 14 trophies as Barcelona manager and seven as Bayern Munich boss before moving to the Etihad, is relishing their title showdown.

Guardiola has won three Premier League titles across five full seasons as City coach – and reckons Liverpool have played their part in those successes.

Jurgen Klopp's men pushed City to the wire during the 2018/19 campaign before lifting the trophy the following season, which inspired Guardiola and his men to claim it back last time out.

Following their 4-1 win over Manchester United, Guardiola spoke about calling Liverpool a 'pain in the ass' and noted how his side can hit back.

He said: "Hopefully we can say we are a pain in the ass for Liverpool too, I said many times the success as a manager is the fact that year after year we still run like we are there to win again, even after three titles.

"We remain humble and continue to play every single game, do it and be there, these guys have done it many, many times.

"To fight with them (Liverpool) is one of the biggest achievements of my career."

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Liverpool went within three points of City at the top following their win over West Ham on Saturday, but Klopp wasn't keen to speak about a possible title challenge.

He had said on Friday: "I’m enjoying this situation we’re in but I don’t enjoy the questions about it because it’s constant and it’s like we’ve won the games already.

"If we lose tomorrow you’ll all sit here and tell me the race is over. I don’t have the capacity for all these scenarios."

City had tore their local rivals to shred in a hugely one-sided second half at the Etihad on Sunday, with Riyad Mahrez adding two goals to Kevin De Bruyne's first-half brace.

Guardiola said of the overall performance: "Good win, good game, second half especially.

"The first half they (United) had more energy, second half they struggled to press as a consequence of the first, there was only one rhythm we needed to do, we played down the left side a bit more and were better in the second half, more comfortable."

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