Dortmund boss aims to be Guardiola's 'Mourinho'

BERLIN (AFP) –

Borrusia Dortmund’s coach Jurgen Klopp gives a press conference on the eve of the Champions League match against Ajax in Amsterdam on November 20, 2012. Klopp has said he wants to be the Bundesliga‘s version of Jose Mourinho to rival Bayern Munich’s head coach Pep Guardiola for the 2013/14 season.

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has said he wants to be the Bundesliga’s version of Jose Mourinho to rival Bayern Munich’s head coach Pep Guardiola for the 2013/14 season.

Having won 14 titles in the four years he spent as Barcelona coach, Guardiola often went head-to-head with Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho in Spanish football’s ‘El Clasico’ rivalry.

Dortmund have won the German league for the last two seasons, leaving Bayern without any silverware since May 2010.

With Guardiola to take charge as Bayern coach on July 1, replacing current boss Jupp Heynckes, Klopp has playfully said he wants to be the Spaniard’s new nemesis.

“I’ll be the new Mourinho for Guardiola!” Klopp told German magazine Sport Bild.

“We want to be an unpleasant opponent for Bayern in the next few years.

“I don’t believe that Pep has bad feelings toward his rivals though. I think that I will get along very well with Pep.

“If he doesn’t like me over the 90 minutes or because of the result, that’s not a problem.”

Dortmund, third in the Bundesliga, play second-placed Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday and are currently 12 points behind leaders Bayern.

Klopp has branded any talk of Dortmund winning their third-straight league title as “ridiculous” and says he is just concerned with making sure Dortmund are contenders again next season.

“The idea of Dortmund being champions is ridiculous,” said the 45-year-old.

“But it is our goal to catch up with Bayer Leverkusen and finish second.

“We’d need to get 51 points (to catch Bayern), the maximum for the remaining 17 games.

“We are lagging 12 points behind Bayern, which means Bayern would need a maximum of 39 only points. Is that realistic?”

But Klopp has said he has plans for next season.

“We want to be closer to them, our development does not end in the summer,” he said.

“We will continue to improve from year to year, if Bayern should slip a gear, then we will be there.

“That’s not really the case this year, but hopefully we will be back as competitor’s next season.”