Jurgen Klopp revealed he has not spoken with Ralf Rangnick since his appointment as Manchester United's interim manager.
Rangnick is a hugely influential figure in German football, employing a similar high-pressing style to that which made Klopp a success with Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and now Liverpool.
The pair are now on opposite sides of English football's biggest rivalry, though, with Klopp's quadruple-chasing Liverpool set to host United on Tuesday.
It will be the 14th meeting between the two coaches, with Klopp winning only two of the prior 13, losing five and drawing the other six.
Asked how his relationship with Rangnick was ahead of the match at Anfield, Klopp replied: "On hold.
"No, we didn't have contact since he was at United. I think that's mutual respect. I respect his job; he respects my job.
"I cannot make it a Klopp-Rangnick or Rangnick-Klopp game, I don't want to. I respect him for everything he did during his career – he did incredible jobs wherever he was.
"He took a difficult one at United, that's clear. There's big expectations with these things, big expectations but no time to get there. In our business, it's like this.
"You can see the changes he made and the parts he improved, but that's it. When I prepared the United game, I didn't think about Ralf in that moment. You watch the games and you prepare for this team.
"It's not about Ralf or me; it's a very important football game, a very, very important football game. The managers probably will not score the decisive goal."
This has been a difficult season for United, with Rangnick set to be replaced by a permanent appointment at the end of the campaign. Erik ten Hag is the favourite.
But United have still earned 33 points in Rangnick's 18 Premier League games in charge, the fourth-most in the division in that time. Liverpool and Manchester City are tied at the top of that table on 42 points.
"United played some really, really good games [under Rangnick]," Klopp added, "but because it's United, even when you win the games, it's 'but that's still not there, it's not like this'.
"It's difficult to gain some momentum, I can imagine."
Malacia makes Man Utd comeback after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Malacia makes injury comeback for Under-21s after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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