Liverpool great Dietmar Hamann questioned the hype surrounding Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola as he insisted Reds' boss Jurgen Klopp ranks above the Spaniard.
City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday in a match widely billed as a title decider, with Klopp's side cutting the leaders' gap to just one point following a 10-game winning run.
Whether it's Trent Alexander-Arnold against Joao Cancelo, Alisson versus Ederson or the influence of Mohamed Salah compared to Kevin De Bruyne, there are battles to be won across the pitch in Manchester.
But there will also be a focus on the touchline, with Guardiola facing old foe Klopp, who has defeated the former Bayern Munich boss more than any other manager in all competitions (eight).
The German tactician has only lost as many matches against Felix Magath (8) in his coaching career as he has against Guardiola, but Hamann placed his backing firmly on the Liverpool manager.
"When Klopp arrived at Anfield in 2015 and Guardiola at City a year later, the Premier League was hugely competitive and hard to win," he wrote in his Daily Mail column.
"In just a few years they have turned it into a two-horse race. I simply wouldn't have thought it was possible for two teams to dominate the Premier League in the way they have.
"But there are three current managers who I regard as more successful than Guardiola and I still don't really get the hype that surrounds him.
"Jose Mourinho has won league titles in four different countries and the Champions League with two clubs, while Carlo Ancelotti's record is second to none and about to get better if Real Madrid can win La Liga.
"And the third manager? For me, it's Jurgen Klopp. What he has achieved on the budgets he has at Liverpool is remarkable. He is a truly exceptional manager. His great skill is in integrating players which is a talent Guardiola doesn't possess in quite the same way."
Since Guardiola's arrival in England at the start of the 2016-17 season, City have taken a league-high 516 points and Liverpool are close behind with 488 points. Chelsea are a distant third on that list with 427 points.
But Hamann, who played for both Liverpool and City during his playing career, still believes Klopp holds the edge over Guardiola, due to how he adapts to his new signings, such as Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
"When Klopp signed Diogo Jota last season everyone questioned whether he would get anywhere near the team, but he was immediately involved," he continued. "It's been exactly the same with Luis Diaz.
"In fact, compare the case of Diaz to Jack Grealish and it goes some way to showing the difference between the managers.
"We've seen players come into the Premier League and you often need six to eight weeks to adjust because it's a unique game. Diaz came in and he fired immediately because the style suits him.
"Look on the other side, you've got Grealish, who cost three times as much yet is struggling to make any sort of an impact. He's a £100million player yet he still isn't fully integrated.
"The way Liverpool players speak about their manager, they would run through brick walls for him. I'm not sure City's players would do the same.
"You look at all the teams around Europe and I think Liverpool are the pick of the lot. And I wouldn't swap this manager for any other. Including Guardiola."
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
Al-Khaleej 0-1 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo misfires on return as Laporte nets winner
Cristiano Ronaldo returned from suspension but failed to find the net as Al-Nassr secured a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej on Saturday, with Aymeric Laporte coming up with the decisive goal.
Ronaldo was in action for the first time since being sent off for an elbow in a 2-1 Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Hilal earlier this month, with his initial two-match ban being reduced to one on appeal.
He missed three good chances as Al-Nassr threatened to fall further behind runaway Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, but former Manchester City defender Laporte spared his blushes by nodding Marcelo Brozovic's deep free-kick into the bottom-left corner with 68 minutes gone.
Al-Nassr remain nine points adrift of Al-Hilal at the summit in spite of their win, with Jorge Jesus' team unbeaten through 28 games this season as they close in on a record-extending 18th title.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo misfires on return
Ronaldo was presented with the Saudi Pro League's Player of the Month award for March ahead of kick-off, having scored four goals in three league appearances last month.
However, his sights were off on Saturday as he failed to net despite three of the visitors' four big chances, as defined by Opta, falling his way. He led all players on the pitch for expected goals (1.27 xG), shots (five), shots on target (three) and touches in the area (nine) without reward.
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