Pep Guardiola claims Jurgen Klopp has transformed Liverpool into the "strongest team in the world".

The Manchester City manager heads to Merseyside on Sunday in a bid to end the Premier League champions’ Anfield hoodoo.

City haven’t won in front of the Kop since 2003, with Guardiola losing three of his four games at the famous stadium.

Victory for Premier League leaders Liverpool would see them open up a nine-point gap on City.

And Guardiola says it is Klopp who has awoken a sleeping giant, who are aiming to end a 30-year wait for the title.

“To see his team, you realise he did in Dortmund and he’s done it here,” said the Catalan. “So it’s easy to analyse how huge was the impact when he took over a team that wasn’t a real contender.

"The history, yes, but not a real contender, to win the Premier League or be on top, and he did it. In three or four years he built something marvellous to watch.”

Sunday sees the champions of England take on the champions of Europe.

But Guardiola insists his side will have to overcome the best team on the planet to triumph in the title showdown.

“I said last season when we won the Premier League, that they are the best contender I’ve faced in my career,” he added.

“That’s why to win this league was one of the biggest achievements we’ve achieved as a club, as a person, and it remains the same.

“So probably right now they are the strongest team in the world. Playing at Anfield, what does it mean for them, for all the rivals, but it’s 90 minutes, maybe 94, and we’re going to try to follow the plan with thought in this game.

“You have seen the team. What is the weak points of Liverpool? It’s difficult to find it, but we have an idea with the way we are going to play, we are going to try. They do absolutely everything well.”

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City have sought assurances from Liverpool that there will be no repeat of the bus attack they endured before their Champions League quarter-final two seasons ago.

Guardiola echoed those thoughts, but also hailed the atmosphere inside Anfield, which has so often caused City to freeze.

“I love it, I like it,” he said. “I didn’t like what happened in the bus outside the stadium, but in the stadium when they support the team, it’s perfect, it’s lovely, that’s why we’re involved in this business, to be involved in this kind of experience in these stadiums.

“Right now it’s one of the toughest ones - I would say right now it’s the toughest stadium in Europe to go to.”