Pep Guardiola follows in Jurgen Klopp footsteps again as Man City boss tipped for national team job

The parallels between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have continued amid claims a national federation will contact the Manchester City manager about their vacant first-team role.

Guardiola and Klopp first became rivals in the German Bundesliga, when Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich and Klopp was coaching Borussia Dortmund. Klopp’s side pushed Bayern all the way, though the Bavarians ran out as German champions in both 2013-14 and 2014-15.

In the 2013-14 campaign, Dortmund came up against Bayern in the DFB-Pokal final, which ended in a 2-0 Bayern victory after extra time.

Dortmund reached the same final again the following year, though they lost 3-1 to Wolfsburg.

During the Klopp-Guardiola era in Germany, Dortmund did at least manage to win the German super cup.

Klopp and Guardiola have since been rivals in the Premier League, thanks to them managing Liverpool and Man City respectively.

Liverpool ended their wait for the Prem title in 2019-20 by finishing ahead of City. But other than that, City have triumphed in the competition since 2017-18.

As in Germany though, Klopp has pushed Guardiola to his absolute limit. In the 2018-19 campaign, Liverpool finished just one point behind City. And the same thing happened last term, when Liverpool went on a brilliant winning run to take the title race down to the last day.

Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola have both agreed new contracts

Liverpool love having Klopp as their manager and tied him down to a new contract in April. It will last until 2026.

Guardiola followed Klopp’s lead by extending his City deal in November. He penned a two-year extension at the Etihad, which should keep him there until 2025.

Despite his fresh terms, Klopp was recently linked with the Germany national team role. Hansi Flick’s job came under pressure following the shock group-stage exit at the World Cup, though he ultimately remained in charge.

And now Guardiola has followed in Klopp’s footsteps by being tipped to take over at a national side. According to Spanish outlet Sport, the Brazilian football federation will soon contact Guardiola about becoming their head coach.

Tite had been hoping to help Brazil win their sixth World Cup. But after the quarter-final loss to Croatia, he stepped down.

The Brazil Confederation’s President, Ednaldo Rodrigues, will call Guardiola in the coming days. He wants to discover the Spaniard’s exact intentions at City, rather than having to go through intermediaries.

Guardiola is Rodrigues’ preferred choice, and the chief is going to make the decision on his own. Rodrigues even considers him as the best coach in world football.

However, the report labels Guardiola as Brazil’s ‘impossible dream’. This is because of his huge success and wages at City.

Guardiola effectively has everything he wants at City. And he will not want to leave them until he has won the Champions League.

The 51-year-old has previously indicated his desire to take charge of a national team when he leaves City. But this probably won’t happen until 2025, when his new contract expires.

Of course, this is far too late for Brazil. They need to prepare for the 2024 Copa America, as well as the 2026 World Cup after that.

And having a great coach in place from now until then will give them a good chance of winning a trophy.

Meanwhile, an observer has revealed one headache Jude Bellingham would give City if he joined them from Dortmund.