How Guardiola and Klopp differ - Ilkay

ILKAY Gundogan has opened up on the differences of playing under Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.

There are not many who have plyed their trade under two of the world’s best managers but the Germany international played under Klopp at Dortmund and is now with Guardiola at City.

“Like Liverpool play now,” Gundogan said when describing Klopp’s style at Dortmund. “A lot of intensity and emotion, not just from the crowd, but also the manager and from inside the players themselves.

“Pep and Jurgen are very different kinds of manager.

“Both are great and have personality types I get along with, but Jurgen is the motivator who prepares you to go into battle while Pep is someone who pays an incredible amount of attention to the tactical details of the game, he always wants a plan and to see patterns in the game.

“That’s why he likes players that are smart, flexible and versatile.”

Gundogan said he realised Guardiola was interested in him while playing for Dortmund. At half-time during a Bundesliga game against Bayern Munich, the Catalan boss clearly had the midfielder in his sights.

“I’d been told by a couple of people that he liked me as a player, but then we were waiting in the tunnel to go back out and he came past and gave me a little hit in the stomach and smiled in my face. I kind of knew then,” he said.

Incredibly, Gundogan ended up living in the same apartment block as Guardiola after moving to Manchester.