Say that we have two knots $K_1$ and $K_2$ in $S^3$ linked together in $S^3$ and forming the Hopf link. Usually, we can prove that we cannot unlink them by using a link invariant that shows that the "two-component unlink" that consists of two separate circles in $S^3$ have a different value (with respect to the invariant) in comparison to its value on the Hopf link. This effectively shows that there is no homomorphism from $S^3$ to itself that separates the two links. I want to relax the condition of homomorphism a little bit and ask: is there a continuous function that separates the images of the two links? in other words, is there a continuous function $f:S^3\to S^3$ with $deg(f)=\pm 1$ such that $f(K_1)$ is contained in an closed disk $D_1$ and $f(K_2)$ is contained in another closed disk $D_2$ and $D_1$ and $D_2$ are disjoint? it seems that the answer is no but I am not sure how to show something like this. Any pointer is appreciated.