Pep Guardiola not surprised by Jurgen Klopp comments on Man City spending

Pep Guardiola says he was not surprised to see Jurgen Klopp’s comments about Manchester City’s spending in the build-up to their defeat at Anfield.

Klopp said before Liverpool’s 1-0 win that his team could not compete with the financial might of state-owned clubs including City, Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain.

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Sources have told ESPN that City were unhappy with the German’s comments but speaking at a news conference on Friday, Guardiola said they did not come as a surprise.

“Firstly, it’s not a surprise because it is not the first time he has said it,” said Guardiola.

“I said it’s not the first time he said that in the last five or six years, so [my focus is on] Brighton. It is what it is.”

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Klopp claimed Liverpool were no longer in the title race following their 3-2 defeat at Arsenal on Oct. 9 but since then they have won back-to-back games in the Premier League against City and West Ham.

It has closed the gap between City and Liverpool to seven points and Guardiola says the turnaround shows he was right to take Klopp’s comments with a pinch of salt.

“It looks like with my statement I believe more in the Liverpool team than their manager,” said Guardiola.

“It’s just 10 fixtures, the World Cup in the middle and a lot of games to play, Europe involved and cup competitions involved, injuries involved.

“I said before, when we have six or seven games left, yes. When it is just 10 games, one thousand million things can happen. I’m only concerned with Brighton in the future.”