Pep Guardiola pleads for Liverpool fans not to attack Manchester City team bus

Pep Guardiola has pleaded with Liverpool supporters not to attack Manchester City's team bus, hoping to avoid a repeat of the scenes witnessed prior to their Champions League meeting in 2018.

The Citizens were welcomed to Merseyside in hostile fashion, as supporters lined the streets and threw bottles, cans and flares at the players on the bus. The Reds used these intimidating tactics when Real Madrid visited Anfield too, smashing a window on their coach.

The most recent encounters at Anfield between Man City and Liverpool have passed without incident, but speaking ahead of the big Premier League clash on Sunday, Guardiola has called for measures to be put in place to prevent such antics.

He revealed how frightening the experience was, while suggesting that the Liverpool police should be ready to make sure 'it never happens again'.

"You cannot imagine how bad it was," Guardiola began.

"Hopefully, I wish it would never happen again. Hopefully they have sorted it out. I am pretty sure the Liverpool police and people understood the situation and I hope it never happens again."

Liverpool fans attacked the Man City bus in 2018 | Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

Man City lost that Champions League encounter 3-0, but they were victorious in their last trip to Anfield. The Premier League champions hammered Liverpool 4-1 in February, but Sunday's meeting will be a much more intense affair, given there were no supporters in the stadium for that clash.

Liverpool and Man City have built a rivalry now due to their title battles, and while tempers can flare on the touchline between the coaches, Jurgen Klopp has maintained that he has a great respect for Guardiola and even 'likes him'.

"I'm not sure I ever told Pep, but I like him!" Klopp said.

"Obviously from time to time I annoy him with things I say in press conferences. I don't mean to say anything bad about him, but when somebody from the City staff tells him 'Klopp said that', I can see in his press conference that he gets really angry. Sorry for that!

"But no, I respect him a lot."


Source : 90min