With Liverpool looking well-placed to finally win the Premier League for the first time and Manchester City desperate to break their Champions League duck, Pep Guardiola has joked that he and Jurgen Klopp should swap trophies.
Last season the respective clubs fought it out in the most intense title race in English top flight history with Liverpool's club record 97 points still leaving them a single point short of City's haul as they won their last 14 Premier League matches of the season to retain their crown.
The Reds overcame that disappointment though to lift their sixth European Cup in Madrid by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Champions League final.
In a light-hearted moment among the intensity of another gruelling battle this term, the Spaniard made his quip as he and Klopp attended the Football Writers' Association northern branch managers' awards dinner on Sunday night in Manchester.
The pair, who were sat on the same table, alongside Liverpool youth team manage Barry Lewtas; Tranmere Rovers boss Micky Mellon and Scouser Ryan Lowe, who steered Bury to League One promotion last season before joining Plymouth Argyle; were seen to be deep in conversation for some time.
The rival bosses' respective silverware also accompanied them to the table with the Premier League trophy FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield at one end and the European Cup at the other and casting an envious glance at the Champions League trophy which he captured twice while at Barcelona, but which has eluded him at the Etihad, Guardiola said: “We really want this one and he (Klopp) really wants this one, maybe we can swap?”
Seemingly in the mood for hilarity following a weekend in which both clubs had won (Liverpool 2-1 at Crystal Palace and City 2-1 at home to Chelsea) following City's 3-1 defeat at Anfield before the international break, Guardiola cracked another gag when he and Klopp found themselves sharing the staging, as he apologised for not possessing his Reds rival's “beautiful smile.”
