Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool have earned Manchester City's respect
Watch Man City vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm
Thursday 3 January 2019 19:32, UK
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool have earned Manchester City's respect in their previous games before they go head-to-head once again live on Sky Sports on Thursday.
Liverpool are seven points ahead of the Premier League holders in first, although the pair drew 0-0 in the reverse fixture at Anfield in October.
Klopp believes that game showed a mature side to Liverpool's play and their performance garnered respect from Man City.
Speaking to Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, he said: "It was mature, I would say. We have watched some of that game in preparation for Thursday.
"I liked it [the performance] and we had chances, although not the biggest ones. We played football and we had some real passing moments. In the games we won, we either scored or we were under pressure and that game was much more mature.
"We really kept the ball, we passed it and we prepared, we created and in the end, the final finish or the pass was not that good.
"On the other side, it was the respect. That night, I felt we really earned it. I felt really good after that game because we earned that respect from City in the games before. I think the feeling was to open up against them and they go.
Live Premier League
"I think it [Thursday's game] will be a tough one but of course, it will also be intense. That game was intense as well, but different."
In 15 months, Klopp's Liverpool have taken on Pep Guardiola's side five times - three in the Premier League and twice in the Champions League - and the German wants his side to learn from each encounter to use in their preparation.
He added: "As a team, you have to learn to learn from the game so we prepare for games with all our knowledge. There's no secret, whatever we know and then I have to decide if I give other information on top or not.
"You don't want to have a book on each opponent as a player, that's not interesting. It's important things that are important to us, we know it and then we can do our stuff and they have problems with that."
