Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp eye era-defining success ahead of showdown with familiar foes Manchester City 

In many ways, the next few weeks could define Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool legacy.

That might sound strange for a manager who has already won the Champions League, Premier League and a first-ever Club World Cup alongside a record-setting ninth Carabao Cup and a UEFA Super Cup, but that is how things are right now at Anfield.

While the legacy of the German's time on Merseyside cannot be tarnished by the outcome between now and the end of the campaign, that it could yet shape how an entire era is viewed shows just how important these next few weeks may be for Liverpool.

Klopp will probably already have a statue of himself erected outside Anfield one day. Complete a quadruple and they may just rename a stand in his honor to boot.

If Liverpool are to end the season with just the League Cup for their efforts, though, it will surely represent a major disappointment. But that is not what is fuelling the fight right now.

No, Klopp and his players are only emboldened by the almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has been dangled in front of them since they won that League Cup at the end of February.

That penalty shootout win over Chelsea could become known in the wider context of the greatest campaign of all time at Liverpool FC. And for a club as decorated as the Merseyside outfit, that is some boast as we creep into the second week of April.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool will want to be considered the greatest ever team in English football

The general perception of this Liverpool squad in recent months is one that needs more silverware to be considered one of the greatest teams in English football history. Despite points hauls of 97 and 99 in recent years alongside the aforementioned trophies, it is a fair assessment. In fact, something even Klopp accepted earlier this year.

"We all know that at this moment the people are really happy with this team," Klopp said on the eve of the Carabao Cup final. "But in 20 years if you talk about this team, I wouldn't be surprised if people would say, if we don’t win anything any more: ‘Yes they were good but they should have won more.’ That’s why we should try to win a few things now."

A League Cup would help that argument in the long run, but not greatly. It is the Champions League and Premier League that gives teams their aura of greatness.

So a 3-1 win over Benfica this week was the ideal way to start their quarter-final tie in the European Cup and more will be known of their domestic hopes after Sunday's gigantic clash with Man City at the Etihad.

The attitudes of both managers in the build-up this week have been contrasting to say the least. On one hand, City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking of a "fake" 14-point gap that his side did enjoy earlier this year over Liverpool, while Klopp has only been reiterating his respect for what his counterpart is achieving and has achieved at the Etihad.

"I'm going to tell you something: Fourteen points, it was fake," Guardiola said. "You were wrong. We played two more games [than Liverpool]. Fake. It was not a mistake."

Klopp on the other hand exuded the feeling of a manager who is totally at ease with Sunday's trip for what is rightly being built up as the biggest fixture in years in English football.

He said:

"[Man City] set it up in a special way. They make it really difficult. They make the pitch big in moments. They make the pitch small in the right moments. They have sensational individuals and all these kinds of things. That's the truth. I cannot hide that. But the good thing is we are not too bad as well."

Perhaps Guardiola needs to be the neurotic over-thinker when it comes to these types of games? And maybe it helps Klopp to display an aura of calm in the build-up to matches of this magnitude?

Neither, then, are differing too much from what might be expected of them, but Klopp will not be as effusive or as tranquil when the game kicks off on Sunday afternoon. After all, he has a Liverpool legacy to cement.