Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has fired back at Jurgen Klopp after the Liverpool boss insisted his title rivals had enjoyed a fortnight off due to Covid issues.
The Premier League leaders had a game with Everton postponed and their training facility was locked down in December after a number of positive tests in the squad.
And with Klopp a long-term critic of England's tough fixture schedule - having lost a plethora of key players to injury including three first-choice centre-backs - he saw the opportunity for a swipe at his title rivals.
Ahead of the two sides' crunch meeting on Sunday afternoon, Klopp said: "We haven't had a break, Man City had two weeks for Covid reasons. It's a tough year."
But that has drawn fury from his rival gaffer as Guardiola shot back at the German in his own press conference.
The Etihad boss said: "I didn't think Jurgen was that kind of manager but maybe it was a misunderstanding from him.
"Jurgen has to see the calendar again. We had Covid, we had one week and played with 14 players at Stamford Bridge."
City also had no pre-season as a result of being involved in the latter stages of the Champions League in August, and Guardiola insists some detractors would do well to remember that fact.
He added: "They have forgotten. We haven't forgotten."
