Guardiola claims Klopp’s challenge is bigger than Madrid

Pep Guardiola has said the biggest challenge of his managerial career has been that of Jurgen Klopp Liverpool instead of Real Madrid despite his Manchester City a country that has been knocked out by Champions League from the Spanish club for the third season in a row.

Madrid eliminated City 5-1 on aggregate in the last 16, Federico Valverde’s hat-trick giving La Liga a 3-0 win at the Bernabeu in the first leg before Vinicius Junior struck twice in Manchester to seal a 2-1 win in the second.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Guardiola responded to the question of whether Madrid represented his toughest rivals. « No, my biggest challenge was Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool during those years here. You were in Spain, you didn’t realize what this competition was. »

The City manager also reflected on his club’s wider relationship with European football’s most decorated side. « It was a good experience for the club because this is a club that 12 or 13 years ago had never been to Europe.

« Playing so many times against Real Madrid, with the generation we had, we did it. They won, we won. The numbers are similar, they knocked us out more than we knocked them out. But they know how we played. »

Record against Madrid

Guardiola has faced Real Madrid 30 times throughout his career, first during his four years with Barcelona in La Liga and then in European competitions with Bayern Munich and City. His overall record reads 14 wins, six draws and ten losses.

In recent years, however, the balance has shifted heavily in favor of Madrid. City were knocked out by the Spanish side in 2022, 2024, 2025 and now 2026, with the only exception being 2023 when Guardiola’s side beat Madrid in the semi-finals on their way to a historic treble.

His result against Klopp, by contrast, was much more evenly contested. In the Bundesliga, they have met eight times, with Guardiola winning four, Klopp three and drawing one.

In the Premier League, Klopp came out on top with eight wins to Guardiola’s six and eight draws. In terms of trophies during their simultaneous tenures at City and Liverpool, however, Guardiola won six titles to Klopp’s one.