Former Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has picked his favourite manager out of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, having achieved great success playing under both.
A glittering career for Gundogan under great managers
The German is now very much in the autumn of his career, but he has arguably been one of the most successful and influential midfielders of his generation.
Gundogan won five Premier League titles and one Champions League crown with City under Guardiola, during the peak of his powers, but he also tasted Bundesliga title glory alongside Klopp in his younger days at Borussia Dortmund.
Guardiola and Klopp are right up with the best managers of the past 20 years, and among the longest-serving coaches in Premier League history, with the pair huge characters who enjoyed a great rivalry during their respective spells in charge of City and Liverpool.
Everyone will have their favourite out of the two, with some preferring the Spaniard’s tactical genius and others liking Klopp’s more free-flowing style, but what about Gundogan?
Gundogan picks between Guardiola and Klopp
Speaking to The Athletic, Gundogan gave Guardiola the edge over Klopp, due to achieving so much trophy-winning success with him in a City shirt.
This is clearly a tough choice for Gundogan, with the 34-year-old an enormous admirer of two people who have had an incredible impact on him as a player, but it does feel right to go with Guardiola, given their dominance of English football together with City.
As mentioned, Gundogan was a younger player with Klopp at Dortmund, scoring a penalty in the 2013 Champions League final defeat to Bayern Munich, but he truly came into own as a player at the Etihad, becoming one of the first names on the team sheet in a squad littered with world-class footballers.
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His title-winning goal at home to Aston Villa on the final day of the 2021/22 season will never be forgotten by City fans, and Liverpool supporters for that matter, and his talent has been worthy of playing under two managerial greats of the game.