Jurgen Klopp reveals private Pep Guardiola phone call as Liverpool exit announced

Jurgen Klopp admits he doesn't know Pep Guardiola well enough to describe him as a friend but reiterated his professional admiration for the Manchester City boss.

The Liverpool manager will go head-to-head with his City counterpart in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon with the Reds in a position to go four clear of their title rivals.

Klopp believes Guardiola to be the world's best manager but says he does not know the Catalan enough outside of the game to offer any further insight on the mutual respect they share.

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But Klopp did reveal he was contacted by Guardiola when it was confirmed he would be leaving Anfield after nine years in late January.

"I don’t know 100% if we like each other, I just know the respect is there," Klopp said. "We have had talks, phone calls, stuff like that in different moments. He went through a difficult period. I went through a difficult period. On a private basis. So we had contact there.

"I can't say nothing about old rivalries. I don’t know. Sir Alex Ferguson I know a little bit. Respect him and like him a lot but we met five times in my life. Arsene Wenger more often because we played against one another. Rafa Benitez I don’t know.

"Jose Mourinho? I am pretty sure on a private basis he’s a good guy but how can you have with him a good relationship? It's like ‘Jose sit down’. It’s tricky. But during the games we are rivals and it’s normal.

"It’s just respect. It's not easy to respect what we are doing here as well. It's how you can have a relationship without having a relationship. While we are in